Comparable Physiological Stress Responses following Music Listening and Quiet Reading: An exploratory pilot study

Music listening is a common stress management strategy, but its potential to protect individuals from upcoming stress remains underexplored. This pilot study examined whether music heard before a stressful event alters physiological and psychological responses. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to either listen to 10 minutes of self-selected relaxing music or engage in an active control of quiet reading prior to a modified Trier Social Stress Test. Electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability (HRV) were recorded with a wearable wristband. Thirteen features were extracted from these signals across three phases (baseline, pre-stress, stress) and analyzed using mixed-ANCOVA, controlling for trait anxiety and baseline values. Both groups showed similar reductions in self-reported anxiety during the pre-stress period, suggesting that any pleasant, absorbing activity may mitigate anticipatory anxiety. However, physiological outcomes revealed divergent patterns: the music group exhibited a smaller increase in tonic EDA during the stressor, consistent with buffered sympathetic arousal, whereas the control group showed a larger increase from the pre-stress to stress period in parasympathetic HRV indices pNN50 and NN50 (the percentage and count of consecutive beats differing by more than 50ms, respectively). These findings suggest that both self-selected music and quiet reading before a stressor may support adaptive stress responding, but with partly distinct autonomic patterns, rather than a clear overall advantage of one activity. Given the small sample size, the results should be considered preliminary and point to the need for further research on how self-selected music can be used to prevent or lessen stress responses.