A recent study shows that favorite music is more effective at reducing pain than unfamiliar relaxing music. Emotional responses and musical chills play a key role in this process, pointing to new avenues for pain management through music therapy.

Researchers have found that listening to our favorite music can both reduce pain intensity and unpleasantness, insights that could optimize music-focused pain management therapies.

Research shows that music can be used as a non-pharmacological method to reduce the perception of pain in humans. This phenomenon, known as hypoalgesia, is an interruption in the transmission of pain signals from their source to when they are consciously perceived as pain. Canadian researchers recently conducted a study to explore what kind of music helps suppress pain sensation.

"Our study found that favorite music selected by participants had a much greater effect on reducing acute heat pain than unfamiliar relaxation music," said Darius Vallevicius, a doctoral student at the University of Montreal. "We also found that emotional responses played a very important role in predicting whether music would have an effect on pain." The study, conducted at McGill University's Roy Pain Laboratory, was published in Frontiers in Pain Research.

To test which music was most effective at reducing pain, participants received moderately painful thermal stimulation on the inside of their forearms, producing a sensation similar to holding a hot tea cup against their skin. The stimuli were paired with musical excerpts, each lasting approximately seven minutes.

Listening to their favorite music significantly reduced participants' pain intensity and unpleasantness compared to a control track or silence. Unfamiliar relaxing music does not have the same effect. "Moreover, we used garbled music, which mimics music in every aspect except its meaningful structure, so it can be concluded that it may not be just the presence of distraction or sound stimulation that is responsible for the low pain perception," Vallevicius explained.

The researchers also looked at whether musical themes could modulate the pain-relieving effects of favorite music. To do this, they interviewed participants about their emotional responses to their favorite music and assigned themes: uplifting/energizing, happy/cheerful, calming/relaxing, and touching/bittersweet. They found that different emotional themes differed in their ability to reduce pain.

The study found that reports of moving or bittersweet emotional experiences appeared to lead to lower pain unpleasantness ratings, which were driven by greater musical enjoyment and more musical chills. While it's not entirely clear what the musical chill is, it appears to indicate a neurophysiological process that effectively blocks pain signals. In some people, chills manifest as a tingling sensation, shivering, or goosebumps.

The researchers also pointed to limitations of their study, one of which related to how long participants listened to the music samples. For example, listening to relaxation music for longer periods of time may have had stronger effects than the short music that participants listened to in this study. The researchers say further research is needed to address whether listening to favorite music is also effective for other non-thermal painful stimuli, such as mechanical stimulation or chronic pain.

"We are exploring new aspects of the psychology of music listening, particularly in relation to pain relief, which have not been well studied. Therefore, our existing data are limited, although the preliminary results are quite strong."

Reference Darius Valevicius, Anaïs Lépine Lopez, Ajar Diushekeeva, April Chaewon Lee, and Mathieu Roy published an article in "Frontiers of Pain Research" on September 11, 2023: "Emotional responses to fond music and relaxing music predict low music-induced analgesia."

DOI:10.3389/fpain.2023.1210572

Compiled source: ScitechDaily