Mozart for the brain - a pilot study on physiological effects of auditive stimulation in patients after aneurysmal...

Classical music influences human physiology, such as the cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV), in healthy controls and during recovery from ischemic stroke. Aim of this prospective pilot-study was to investigate the effect of classical music on CBFV and other physiological parameters in patients suffering from aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Twenty patients with SAH were subjected to up to three interventions, in which the patients listened to W. A. Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor. In parallel, CBFV in the right middle cerebral artery (MCA) was continuously measured using transcranial Doppler (TCD). TCD values were averaged per minute, normalized, and analyzed with a mixed-effects linear regression model. In addition, other physiological and laboratory parameters were evaluated.

A total of 55 interventions were successfully carried out. The mixed-effects linear regression model revealed significant associations with both time (p < 0.001) and session (p = 0.002), specifically, with each minute of classical music played, there was a 0.3 % reduction in CBFV (95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.2-0.4 %). Heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) decreased by 0.1 % (95 % CI: -0.2-0.0 %; p = 0.043) 0.3 % (95 % CI: -0.6 % to -0.1 %; p = 0.001), respectively, per minute of exposure. Each additional session resulted in a reduction of HR by 4.3 % and RR by 22.3 % from the baseline at the start of the intervention to minute 25 (both p < 0.001).

Our pilot study shows only a very small effect of classical music such as Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor in patients with SAH.