A dose of music could do wonders for anxious people, according to clinical trial research out this month.
Scientists in Toronto, Canada, and the UK observed what happened to people taking medication for their anxiety after they underwent a session of music listening combined with auditory stimulation. Compared to people who simply heard pink noise, music listeners experienced a significant reduction in anxiety symptoms, they found. The findings indicate music can be an effective add-on to existing anxiety treatment, the researchers say.
“This study provides further support for the contention that music listening can be used to reduce state anxiety in individuals with a clinically significant level of trait anxiety,” they wrote in their paper, published this month in PLOS Mental Health.
A spoonful of music
Previous research has suggested that soothing music can be an intervention for mental health conditions, including anxiety. Other studies have pointed to the potential benefits of auditory beat stimulation (ABS), a technique where two slightly different, low-frequency tones are played at once (either one in each ear, or in both ears at the same time), causing the perception of a pulsing beat intended to stimulate the brain. A study in 2022, for instance, found that just 24 minutes of music paired with auditory beat stimulation appeared to reduce people’s anxiety.
The authors of that 2022 study collaborated with other scientists for this latest research. They set out to replicate the earlier results and to test whether longer sessions could have a larger effect.
The new study involved 144 participants who were taking at least one medication for their anxiety. A randomized set was selected to listen to pink noise (a constant stream of noise that sounds like a waterfall) as a sort of control group, while others heard varying lengths of music and auditory beat stimulation for periods of 12, 24, or 36 minutes.
As before, people who heard music plus ABS reported significant reductions in their anxiety symptoms compared to the controls. Though there were some potential greater improvements seen in the 36 minute listening group, people who listened to music for 24 minutes fared the best overall afterward, the researchers found.
“What we’re seeing is a dose–response pattern where about 24 minutes of music with ABS seems to be the sweet spot,” said Frank Russo, a professor of psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University, in a statement from the university. “It’s long enough to meaningfully shift anxiety levels, but not so long that listeners need to carve out a large block of time.”
A useful add-on
The researchers are careful to note that music, even paired with auditory beat stimulation, isn’t a cure-all for anxiety. In trials so far, the technique only seems to provide a medium-level effect in reducing anxiety on average. And more studies, ideally larger ones, are needed to validate and quantify the team’s early results.
But given the limitations of other interventions—such as side effects for medications or the high costs of cognitive behavioral therapy—music therapy could certainly become an valuable and cheap adjunct to anxiety treatment, they argue.
“These findings support music with ABS as a possible addition to existing anxiety treatments, especially when access to common behavioral health interventions is limited,” they wrote.