Music could help ease pain from surgery or illness. Scientists are
listening
[October 20, 2025]
By CHRISTINA LARSON
Nurse Rod Salaysay works with all kinds of instruments in the hospital:
a thermometer, a stethoscope and sometimes his guitar and ukulele.
In the recovery unit of UC San Diego Health, Salaysay helps patients
manage pain after surgery. Along with medications, he offers tunes on
request and sometimes sings. His repertoire ranges from folk songs in
English and Spanish to Minuet in G Major and movie favorites like
“Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Patients often smile or nod along. Salaysay even sees changes in their
vital signs like lower heart rate and blood pressure, and some may
request fewer painkillers.
“There’s often a cycle of worry, pain, anxiety in a hospital,” he said,
“but you can help break that cycle with music.”
Salaysay is a one-man band, but he’s not alone. Over the past two
decades, live performances and recorded music have flowed into hospitals
and doctors’ offices as research grows on how songs can help ease pain.
Scientists explore how music affects pain perception
The healing power of song may sound intuitive given music’s deep roots
in human culture. But the science of whether and how music dulls acute
and chronic pain — technically called music-induced analgesia — is just
catching up.
No one suggests that a catchy song can fully eliminate serious pain. But
several recent studies, including in the journals Pain and Scientific
Reports, have suggested that listening to music can either reduce the
perception of pain or enhance a person’s ability to tolerate it.
What seems to matter most is that patients — or their families — choose
the music selections themselves and listen intently, not just as
background noise.
How music can affect pain levels
“Pain is a really complex experience,” said Adam Hanley, a psychologist
at Florida State University. “It’s created by a physical sensation, and
by our thoughts about that sensation and emotional reaction to it.”
Two people with the same condition or injury may feel vastly different
levels of acute or chronic pain. Or the same person might experience
pain differently from one day to the next.
Acute pain is felt when pain receptors in a specific part of the body —
like a hand touching a hot stove — send signals to the brain, which
processes the short-term pain. Chronic pain usually involves long-term
structural or other changes to the brain, which heighten overall
sensitivity to pain signals. Researchers are still investigating how
this occurs.
“Pain is interpreted and translated by the brain," which may ratchet the
signal up or down, said Dr. Gilbert Chandler, a specialist in chronic
spinal pain at the Tallahassee Orthopedic Clinic.
Researchers know music can draw attention away from pain, lessening the
sensation. But studies also suggest that listening to preferred music
helps dull pain more than listening to podcasts.
“Music is a distractor. It draws your focus away from the pain. But it’s
doing more than that," said Caroline Palmer, a psychologist at McGill
University who studies music and pain.
[to top of second column]
|
Nurse Rod Salaysay plays guitar for patient Richard Hoang in the
recovery unit of UC San Diego Health in San Diego, Calif., on Sept.
30, 2025. (AP Photo/Javier Arciga)
 Scientists are still tracing the
various neural pathways at work, said Palmer.
“We know that almost all of the brain becomes active when we engage
in music,” said Kate Richards Geller, a registered music therapist
in Los Angeles. “That changes the perception and experience of pain
— and the isolation and anxiety of pain.”
Music genres and active listening
The idea of using recorded music to lessen pain associated with
dental surgery began in the late 19th century before local
anesthetics were available. Today researchers are studying what
conditions make music most effective.
Researchers at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands
conducted a study on 548 participants to see how listening to five
genres of music — classical, rock, pop, urban and electronic —
extended their ability to withstand acute pain, as measured by
exposure to very cold temperatures.
All music helped, but there was no single winning genre.
“The more people listened to a favorite genre, the more they could
endure pain,” said co-author Dr. Emy van der Valk Bouman. “A lot of
people thought that classical music would help them more. Actually,
we are finding more evidence that what’s best is just the music you
like."
The exact reasons are still unclear, but it may be because familiar
songs activate more memories and emotions, she said.
The simple act of choosing is itself powerful, said Claire Howlin,
director of the Music and Health Psychology Lab at Trinity College
Dublin, who co-authored a study that suggested allowing patients to
select songs improved their pain tolerance.
“It’s one thing that people can have control over if they have a
chronic condition — it gives them agency,” she said.
Active, focused listening also seems to matter.
Hanley, the Florida State psychologist, co-authored a preliminary
study suggesting daily attentive listening might reduce chronic
pain.
“Music has a way of lighting up different parts of the brain,” he
said, “so you’re giving people this positive emotional bump that
takes their mind away from the pain.”
It’s a simple prescription with no side effects, some doctors now
say.
Cecily Gardner, a jazz singer in Culver City, California, said she
used music to help get through a serious illness and has sung to
friends battling pain.
“Music reduces stress, fosters community,” she said, “and just
transports you to a better place.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
