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When Using Music to Alleviate Pain, Tempo Matters

The AHA! Team — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 05:37:38 +0000

McGill University via EurekAlert! – We each have a natural rhythm, and music that matches it offers the best pain relief, McGill research suggests. Music has the best chance of providing pain relief when it is played at our natural rhythm, a McGill University research team has discovered. This suggests it may be possible to reduce a patient’s level of pain by using technology to take a piece of music someone likes and adjust the tempo to match their internal rhythm, the researchers said. The discovery was the subject of a paper published recently in Pain, the top journal in the field of pain medicine and research. Exploring which aspect of music lessens pain Music has been used to alleviate pain for centuries. In recent years, there has been increasing scientific interest in using music to treat medical conditions ranging from Parkinson’s disease to strokes and chronic pain. But little is known about how this might work. “There have been very few studies that really look at specific parameters of music to try to understand the effects of music on the brain,” explained Mathieu Roy, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill and the co-senior author of the paper. It has often been suggested that soothing or relaxing music works best as a pain reliever “In the past, it has often been suggested that soothing or relaxing music works best as a pain reliever,” added co-author Caroline Palmer, a Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance in the Department of Psychology and co-senior author of the paper. “But this didn’t seem precise enough. So, we set out to investigate whether the tempo — the rate at which a passage is produced and one of music’s core elements — could influence its capacity to reduce pain.” Our own internal beat may distract us from pain Research over the past decade has shown that whether we speak, sing, play an instrument or just tap along to music, we each have our own characteristic rhythm: the one to which we are most attuned and can produce most comfortably. It is thought that this rhythm, known as our spontaneous production rate (SPR), may be tied to our circadian rhythms. “It is possible that the neural oscillations that are responsible for driving our preferred tempo at a particular rate are more easily pulled along when a musical tempo is closer to our own natural tempo,” added Roy. “As a result, they are pulled away from the neural frequencies associated with pain.” The right beat reduces level of pain To find out whether listening to music at an individual’s natural tempo helped lower their experience of pain, the McGill researchers compared the pain ratings of 60 participants (some of whom were musicians and others not) as they were subjected to low levels of pain, either in silence or while listening to music that had been manipulated so that its tempo either matched the one that was most natural to each person or was slightly faster or slower. Each participant’s natural tempo was established by their tapping out the rhythm of a well-known nursery rhyme (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) at the rate that was comfortable for them. The touch-sensitive pad they tapped on produced the next tone in the sequence of the melody, thus capturing their natural tempo. Participants underwent 12 blocks of tests in which 10 seconds of heat at various levels was applied intermittently to small pads on their forearms Over the course of 30 minutes, participants underwent 12 blocks of tests in which 10 seconds of heat at various levels was applied intermittently to small pads on their forearms, interspersed with pauses of varying lengths. Participants either experienced the pain in silence or listened to an unfamiliar melody in a style they had selected at their preferred tempo, or at 15 per cent faster or 15 per cent slower. After each block of tests, they were asked to rate their level of pain. At worst, according to Roy, the pain was like what you feel when you touch the outside of a hot coffee mug and pull your hand away quickly because it’s too hot. The right beat reduces pain the most The researchers found that, compared to silence, music of whatever kind and at whatever tempo significantly reduced participants’ perceptions of pain. More important, they discovered the greatest reductions in the ratings of the levels of pain occurred when the melodies were played at a rate that matched the participant’s own preferred tempo. As a next step, the researchers said they would like to use electroencephalography to measure neural activity and confirm that the rate of neuronal firing synchronizes with the external tempo of the music. They also indicated that they hope to test their findings with people living with chronic pain or pain associated with medical procedures. The research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Canada Research Chair and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Journal Pain DOI 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003513 To read the original article click here.

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MHRI Aims to Delve Deeper Into How Musical Intervention Can Affect Health

AHA Publisher — Mon, 27 Sep 2021 07:00:50 +0000

University of Ottawa via News-Medical – If popular wisdom holds that music is good for the soul, science is increasingly seeking to better understand how music can affect the body, brain, and mind, as evidenced by the 2020 publication of the first World Health Organization report on health and music. In response, the newly established University of Ottawa Music and Health Research Institute (MHRI) has made it its core mission to delve deeper into how musical intervention can affect health, developing the knowledge, innovative therapeutic practices, and solutions that can contribute to improving the health of populations. The driving force behind this interdisciplinary initiative, which stands at the intersection of music, health sciences, social sciences, engineering, and medicine, is Faculty of Arts Professor Gilles Comeau, who has been appointed as director of the Institute for a five-year mandate. He is joined by the MHRI associate director and Faculty of Health Sciences professor Anna Zumbansen, who will bring her own complementary expertise to the Institute’s leadership. “We want the Institute to become recognized as a major research hub and a reference in the field of music and health. A place where scholars, clinicians, caregivers, and music educators can exchange knowledge and work together to investigate and demonstrate, through a science-based approach, the benefits of music practice and therapy on physical, sensory, cognitive, and mental health,” says Gilles Comeau. Born out of Comeau’s vision and leadership, the MHRI will roll out interdisciplinary, participatory, and action-based research initiatives to measure how learning and practising music can affect children with hearing loss, seniors with cognitive and motor impairments, as well as people suffering from mental health problems. The MHRI is a cradle for interdisciplinary research partnerships that bring together top talents from the faculties of Arts, Health Sciences and Social Sciences, and the Professional Development Institute at the University of Ottawa. The Institute has also partnered with external organizations, including Carleton University; the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal, the Bruyère Research Institute, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) (Education), and the Lotus Centre for Specialized Music Education. These partners will contribute their expertise to a roster of forward-thinking and scientifically creative initiatives. Researchers from the University of Montreal and the University of British Columbia will also be among the Institute’s valued research partners and steering committee members. “The creation of the Music and Health Research Institute is innovation in action. The Institute’s multidisciplinary approach to the study of the interaction between music and health is distinctive and strongly aligned with our strategic research goal of enabling lifelong health and wellness. The high-calibre partnerships formed by Professor Comeau promise to advance research that will help improve the well-being of all Canadians.” Sylvain Charbonneau, Vice-President, Research, University of Ottawa Music and Health Research Institute The partnerships and research that were developed through the Piano Pedagogy Research Laboratory and the Musicians’ Wellness Centre, both founded by Comeau and now under the umbrella of the Institute, were instrumental in establishing MHRI’s collaborative research synergies, including the Canadian Network for Musicians’ Health and Wellness, which answers musicians’ calls for better prevention, better treatment and better support for the physical and psychological problems associated with playing an instrument. One MHRI initiative will advance research into the factors involved in maintaining the well-being, autonomy, and health of seniors, who will make up 25% of the population by 2030 according to Statistics Canada. “Music Making with Elderly People” is a major research initiative that the Institute will carry out with The Royal and Bruyère. It will examine how the brain functions responsible for attention, balance, gait, or a patient’s psychological and mental state can be affected by multi-tasking musical interventions that combine rhythmic bodily movements, ear training, tapping, clapping, vocal or instrumental improvisation, and playing percussion instruments. This partnership will give the uOttawa-based project an additional foothold at the Orléans-based campus of Bruyère and at The Royal, thus giving the project better access to a larger pool of seniors and patients with whom to push forward research. “We are particularly excited to partner with the MHRI at uOttawa to generate and apply new knowledge to serve people living with mental illness”, says Florence Dzierszinski, who is president of the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Mental Health Research at The Royal and vice-president, research, at The Royal. “We particularly look forward to our first project, which focuses on music and aging, and will see the establishment of a music and mental health research clinic, which will be designed by researchers, clinicians, program leaders, and people with lived expertise, and will be connected to our cutting-edge technological platforms, including our Brain Imaging Centre,” says Dzierszinski. We are excited to be a key partner with the new Music and Health Research Institute and further study the benefits of music at Bruyère,” says Heidi Sveistrup, CEO and chief scientific officer of the Bruyère Research Institute and vice-president, research, and academic affairs at Bruyère. “The science is clear – music-making and moving to music have important cognitive, emotional and physical health benefits.” Studying musical engagement and interest in children and youth with hearing loss is yet another key initiative for which the CHEO Research Institute will develop innovative clinical practices. This research will measure the effects of music learning on the central auditory, cognitive, and neurological systems of hearing-impaired children. Dr. Ryan Rourke, a surgeon with the divisions of pediatric otolaryngology and audiology, sees opportunities to expand CHEO’s involvement in the MHRI to different departments with the goal of understanding how music can help children with a variety of conditions. “MHRI is set to be a pioneering force in the field,” says Erin Parkes, PhD, the founder and executive director of the Lotus Centre for Specialized Music Education, a partner organization that helps students with exceptionalities. “There has been so little work done in this area, and this partnership has the potential to truly change the landscape in special music education.” The Institute will strive to ensure that its research and knowledge mobilization activities reflect its commitment to increasing access, inclusive, and equitable access to musical interventions. Brian Ray – Vice-Dean Research at the Faculty of Arts “The Faculty of Arts is proud to be a partner in this initiative. Professor Gilles Comeau has consistently contributed to the advancement of research in the School of Music at the Faculty of Arts, as well as in several other fields. Professor Comeau’s scholarship is creative, engaged and rigorous; under his direction, we can expect exciting things from this new interdisciplinary research hub.” Lucie Thibault – Dean at the Faculty of Health Sciences and member of the MHRI’s steering committee “The Music and Health Research Institute is a prime example of the priorities of our faculty’s strategic goal to support inter-and multi-disciplinary research. Music has a direct impact on our health and well-being and the Faculty of Health Sciences is honoured to collaborate closely with the Faculty of Arts to partake in the next steps of this valuable research.” Rafik Goubran – Vice-President (Research and International), Carleton University “Carleton University is pleased to partner with the University of Ottawa on this important initiative that will investigate the role of music in society and its impact on health outcomes, especially on conditions such as dementia and anxiety. This partnership is a welcome addition to the many successful collaborations between our two institutions and will enhance our continued research productivity and shared vision.” To read the original article click here.

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