Interventions using unassisted music listening during surgery

Unassisted music listening has also been studied with patients undergoing elective procedures using regional anesthesia to determine music’s effect on decreasing anxiety levels during surgery. Eisenman & Cohen (1995) studied patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. Patients reported that music listening during surgery helped make the time pass more quickly, masked background noises and diverted attention away from the surgical procedure. Anesthetists also reported that patients required less anesthesia, were calmer, and maintained more stable pulse rates and blood pressures.

In a similar study, Cruise, Chung, Yogendran & Little (1997) studied elderly patients who were scheduled for cataract extraction surgery. Patients were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Subjects in group one listened to relaxing suggestions; group two listened to white noise (level of normal noise in a quiet environment); group three listened to operating room noise recorded during a cataract operation; and group four listened to relaxing, classical music with sounds of nature. After surgery, no significant differences were noted in vital signs between any of the groups. No significant differences were found in STAI or VAS scores among the groups before or after surgery. Patients in group four did report being more satisfied with the surgery experience and feeling more relaxed than was reported by other subjects. Results of this study showed a subjective improvement in anxiety with music listening but lacked objective evidence to support music listening as an effective medium to decrease physiological responses caused by stress.

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Contents: The effect of music interventions in the surgical setting on patients' level of anxiety

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This page was last updated December 30, 2004