Hospitals and Doctors’ offices are increasingly turning to music as a tool to help patients manage pain. Singers and musicians are now invited into recovery rooms, complementing traditional pain management methods, as research highlights the potential of music to ease discomfort.
At UC San Diego Health, Nurse Rod Salaysay incorporates music into his patient care. After surgery, he plays requested tunes or even sings himself, offering everything from English and Spanish folk songs to Minuet in G Major and movie classics like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Patients often respond with smiles or gentle nods, and Salaysay monitors changes in vital signs such as heart rate and blood pressure. Some patients even request fewer painkillers.
“There’s often a cycle of worry, pain, and anxiety in a hospital, but you can help break that cycle with music,” he explained.
While Salaysay operates as a one-man band, he is part of a larger trend. Over the past 20 years, hospitals and clinics have increasingly incorporated live and recorded music into care, driven by growing research into music’s role in pain management.
The phenomenon, technically referred to as music-induced analgesia, is only beginning to be understood scientifically. Although no song can completely eliminate severe pain, recent studies—including research published in Pain and Scientific Reports—suggest that listening to music can reduce the perception of pain or increase a person’s tolerance for it.
“Pain is a really complex experience. It’s created by a physical sensation and by our thoughts about that sensation and emotional reaction to it,” explained Adam Hanley, a psychologist at Florida State University. Two patients with the same injury may experience different levels of pain, and even one person may feel pain differently from day to day.
Music can help by diverting attention from pain, diminishing its intensity. Studies also indicate that listening to preferred music is more effective than listening to non-musical content, such as podcasts.
Kate Richards Geller, a registered music therapist in Los Angeles, highlighted the neurological effects: “We know that almost all of the brain becomes active when we engage in music. That changes the perception and experience of pain—and the isolation and anxiety of pain.”
A recent study at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands explored how five music genres—classical, rock, pop, urban, and electronic—affected participants’ ability to tolerate acute pain. Researchers tested 548 participants by exposing them to extremely cold temperatures.
All genres helped participants endure pain, but no single style emerged as superior. Dr. Emy van der Valk Bouman, the study’s co-author, explained, “The more people listened to a favourite genre, the more they could endure pain. 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 precise mechanisms are still unclear, but van der Valk Bouman noted that familiar songs may engage memories and emotions, which could contribute to their pain-relieving effects.
