Abstract
Music-induced analgesia (MIA) is the ability of music to influence pain perception. Although this phenomenon has been extensively studied in recent years, only a few studies have addressed what musical characteristics are optimal for MIA. Here, we present a novel approach to this topic, using a recently proposed model of music attribute preferences. The model addresses three musical dimensions: arousal, valence, and depth. Thirty participants (15 women and 15 men, Mage = 37.1 years, standard deviation = 15.7) were subjected to experimental pain stimulation (cold-pressor task) while listening to brief music excerpts with characteristics of the three attribute dimensions. Each excerpt was selected to score high on one of the three attributes while being average on the other two, to create three distinct music conditions. There was also a control condition, where participants listened to white noise. Results showed that average pain ratings were significantly lower in the arousal (p = 0.002) and depth (p = 0.01) conditions compared to the control condition. Furthermore, participants showed increased pain tolerance in musical conditions compared to the control condition (p = 0.04). This preliminary report introduces a novel approach to studying MIA in the context of music attribute preferences. With the advent of online music streaming services, this research opens new possibilities for music-based pain interventions.
Highlights
Modern research into music-induced analgesia (MIA), the ability of music to influence pain perception, began with a seminal work by Gardner et al (1960), who studied 5,000 patients undergoing dental surgery and found that an intervention involving music and noise reduced pain in 90% of cases
Substantial research has addressed the impact of music on pain perception, few studies have examined what musical characteristics are optimal for Music-induced analgesia (MIA)
The differences in dependent variables between experimental conditions were evaluated using one-way repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with four factors corresponding to three music conditions and a control condition
Summary
Modern research into music-induced analgesia (MIA), the ability of music to influence pain perception, began with a seminal work by Gardner et al (1960), who studied 5,000 patients undergoing dental surgery and found that an intervention involving music and noise reduced pain in 90% of cases. Substantial research has addressed the impact of music on pain perception, few studies have examined what musical characteristics are optimal for MIA. Another study found that while pain was more tolerable with self-chosen preferred music, decreased perception of pain was observed only in female participants (Mitchell and MacDonald, 2006). Zhao and Chen (2009) found that both happy and sad melodies reduced pain ratings; music excerpts were arbitrarily chosen by the experimenters. Another study found that while pain was more tolerable with self-chosen preferred music, decreased perception of pain was observed only in female participants (Mitchell and MacDonald, 2006). Zhao and Chen (2009) found that both happy and sad melodies reduced pain ratings; music excerpts were arbitrarily chosen by the experimenters. Knox et al (2011) performed an acoustical analysis of music that has been rated as highly pain-relieving, finding that the most chosen music expressed contentment
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