The effect of music in anxiety reduction: A psychological and physiological assessment

Abstract

Extensive research has been published on the effects of music in reducing anxiety. Yet, for most of the existing works, a common methodology regarding musical genres and measurement techniques is missing, which limits considerably the comparison between them. In this study, we assess, for the first time, markedly different musical genres with both psychological and physiological measurements. Three previously studied musical samples from different genres—classical (Pachelbel’s Canon in D), Turkish (Hüseyin Makam), and electroacoustic (pure electronic)—were employed to influence “everyday anxiety” in 50 German participants (25 females, 25 males). Psychological (self-perception assessment) and physiological (heart rate measurement) indicators of anxiety, as most typical of prior work, were considered. Our study shows that listening to Pachelbel’s Canon increases the self-perception of calm, whereas listening to the electroacoustic sample decreases it; the Turkish sample is in between. No differences in heart rate are found for any of the musical genres. Our study also suggests that listeners’ self-perception might be biased by the statements used in the psychological evaluation (positive or negative), which are interpreted differently by the subjects depending on their current state.