A new study shows that listening to your favorite music can significantly reduce pain from short medical procedures such as intravenous injection, while relaxing music and even Mozart pieces do not have the same effect. The findings indicate that the determining factor in pain relief is how much the person likes the music, not its technical features or genre.
Researchers at the University Hospital of Zurich in Switzerland examined 204 patients who were to receive a cannula for MRI of the head, spine, or neck. These patients were divided into four groups: a no-music group, a group that listened to their favorite music, a group that listened to relaxing music, and a group that listened to a Mozart sonata (a piece previously associated with reduced pain and anxiety in earlier studies). Patients' pain intensity was measured at four different stages.
Results showed that patients who listened to their favorite music experienced a significant reduction in pain 30 seconds and two minutes after the injection. This effect was observed even in patients who had pain before the injection. In contrast, Mozart's music only showed a soothing effect two minutes after the injection in a subgroup of patients who already had pain. Relaxing music had almost no effect on pain reduction and performed similarly to the no-music group.
Why didn't relaxing music work?
Dr. Meritxell García Alzamora, one of the senior researchers of the study, explains: "Relaxing music is usually characterized by a slow tempo and low volume and lacks noticeable dynamics. These features may have caused patients not to pay attention to it, which explains the lack of pain relief."
This finding aligns with the results of a larger study with 548 participants at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. That study, published in Scientific Reports, showed that a person's overall preference for a music genre is a stronger predictor of pain tolerance than the genre the person thinks is "useful for reducing pain." In fact, people who listened to their preferred genre, regardless of the genre type (urban, rock, classical, electronic, or pop), showed higher pain tolerance.
Mechanism of effect: musical chills
Another study published in Frontiers in Pain Research examined the probable mechanism of this effect. Researchers at McGill University in Canada found that "musical chills" - the tingling, shiver, or prickling sensation some people experience when listening to their favorite music - are associated with reduced pain intensity. This physiological response appears to block pain signals at the neural level.
Dariush Walveisius, a researcher on that study, explains: "We found that reporting emotionally moving or bittersweet experiences seems to lead to a reduction in the unpleasantness of pain, which stems from greater pleasure from the music and more musical chills."
Clinical implications: prescribing personalized music
Dr. Andrei Cristinel-Dragnea, the lead author of the Zurich study, emphasizes that although intravenous injection is a minor procedure, pain levels can vary greatly from person to person. He says: "Health care should not focus only on achieving diagnosis or effective treatment, but should also strive to ensure the patient experiences the least possible discomfort."
These findings have important practical implications for clinical settings. Patients can ask doctors or nurses to play their favorite music during short medical procedures. Unlike drug interventions, this method is safe, inexpensive, and free of side effects.
However, researchers warn that this study was limited to short-term acute pain from injection, and generalizing it to chronic pain or longer procedures requires further research. Questions also remain about whether favorite music is effective against mechanical pain or chronic pain.
Conclusion: choose your own music
Perhaps the most important lesson of this research for the general public is: if you are awaiting a painful medical procedure, choose music you really like, not what you think is "relaxing." Your taste, not general recommendations, determines the soothing effect of music.