Investigating the ability of music to induce calm in young adults

Music medicine may allow individuals with sub-clinical anxiety levels to self-medicate when and where they choose. The current study used subjective and objective anxiety measures to compare music’s ability to change emotional states. Subjective measures included ratings of a song’s pleasantness, arousal, dominance, and likability, as well as state and trait anxiety estimates. Objective measures were selected for skin conductance, heart rate (HR), and blood volume pulse (BVP) amplitude. The commercially available music consisted of ambient, metal, and pop songs. The participants, 28 young adults, listened to the six songs. During the songs, objective measurements were obtained, rating the song’s affective dimensions as they listened and their state of anxiety after each song. Results support the notion that different music genres can differentially affect subjective and objective measures of negative emotion. Specifically, low arousal / high valance songs were associated with lower state anxiety and physiological arousal levels. Discussion around the promise of music medicine and aspects of its management are presented, along with avenues of further inquiry. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.