Abstract
Musical listening is broadly used as an inexpensive and safe method to reduce self-perceived anxiety. This strategy is based on the emotivist assumption claiming that emotions are not only recognised in music but induced by it. Yet, the acoustic properties of musical work capable of reducing anxiety are still under-researched. To fill this gap, we explore whether the acoustic parameters relevant in music emotion recognition are also suitable to identify music with relaxing properties. As an anxiety indicator, the positive statements from the six-item Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, a self-reported score from 3 to 12, are taken. A user-study with 50 participants assessing the relaxing potential of four musical pieces was conducted; subsequently, the acoustic parameters were evaluated. Our study shows that when using classical Western music to reduce self-perceived anxiety, tonal music should be considered. In addition, it also indicates that harmonicity is a suitable indicator of relaxing music, while the role of scoring and dynamics in reducing non-pathological listener distress should be further investigated.
Highlights
Academic Editors: Osmano Oasi and According to the American Psychological Association, “anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, physical changes, and increased blood pressure” [1]
This implies that acoustic information is not continuously captured for some Level Descriptors (LLDs), we considered it as a reasonable compromise to prevent redundancies and keep the data format consistent
To evaluate the effect of the musical samples in reducing listeners’ self-perceived anxiety, the differences in user responses between pre- and post-treatment, i.e., the difference between before and after listening to each evaluated musical sample, were compared with those from the control group
Summary
Academic Editors: Osmano Oasi and According to the American Psychological Association, “anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, physical changes, and increased blood pressure” [1]. Pharmacological treatment and cognitive-behavioural therapy are well established procedures to deal with anxiety disorders [3], the use of music as a noninvasive intervention to regulate daily stress [4] is increasing; its suitability is generally acknowledged in both medical and non-medical settings [5]. To explain the mechanisms behind listening to music as a medium to decrease anxiety, a variety of theories have been presented, including music’s capability to trigger pleasant memories [6], counterbalance negative feelings [7–9], and mask unpleasant and stressful noise [10]. Due to its generally known positive properties, listening to music on a daily basis is a common strategy followed by non-clinically diagnosed individuals to cope with quotidian distress [12]—a strategy that has shown to be suitable when deliberately chosen for relaxing purposes [13]
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