Music for the Heart—Can Heart Rate Be Influenced by Different Music Genres or Modulated Sounds? A Comparison between Healthy Young and Elderly People and Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of different music genres, three modulated noises and a pink noise on the heart rate (HR) and to compare between young healthy adults (YA), elderly healthy adults was (EA) and patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Furthermore, a sound condition comparison for each group was conducted. Methods: A total of 77 subjects (41m/36w) were divided into healthy adults aged 20–35 years (YA) and 55–76 years (EA) as well as adults diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (42–76 years) (PD). The “Polar OH1”, an optical pulse sensor, determined the heart rate. All test persons used identical wireless headphones (Bose QC35). The music genres were classical, relaxation and heavy metal with different speeds (bpm) while the three modulated noises were equivalent to these three music styles. To exclude visual information, everyone wore a blindfold. Significance was set at 5%. Results: When comparing experimental conditions within a subject group, there was a significant difference (p ≤ 0.001). between the different measurement mostly in group YA but barely noticeable in group EA. Subject group PD had no significant condition differences. For each sound condition the median HR was higher in YA than in EA (p ≤ 0.001–0.05). Conclusion: The heart rate was not affected by wearing headphones with or without the noise canceling mode. While listening to the music or the tones, younger people have a higher HR variability than older people which may, thus, make them more sensitive to the conditions studied. It can be assumed that the listening to music has no systematic influence on decreasing or increasing the HR.