Reducing Pain With Focused Music Listening

Pain Clinical Trial

— PainMusic  

Official title:

Reducing Pain Thresholds Using a Focused Music Listening Technique

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05267795
• Other study ID #: BFS Toppforsk
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 22, 2019
• Est. completion date: October 30, 2020

Study information

• Verified date: March 2022
• Source: University of Bergen
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Pain-reducing effects of music listening are well-established, but the effects are small and their clinical relevance questionable. Recent theoretical advances, however, have proposed that synchronizing to music, such as clapping, tapping or dancing, has evolutionarily important social effects that are associated with activation of the endogenous opioid system (EOS; which supports both analgesia and social bonding). Thus, active sensorimotor synchronization to music could have stronger analgesic effects than simply listening to music. However, to the best of the investigators' knowledge, the hypothesis of an EOS activation by sensorimotor synchronization to music has never been investigated. Accordingly, the investigators set up a test with the premise that if sensorimotor synchronization to music indeed activates the EOS, then it should have larger pain-reducing effects than simply listening to music. Using pressure algometry to the fingernails, specific amounts of pain were delivered to healthy adults either during music listening or silence, while either performing an active tapping task or a passive control task. As the dependent variable, perceived pain was rated on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1 = very little, 5 = medium, 9 = very strong). In addition, to pain ratings, participants provided ratings of their emotional state in terms of pleasantness as well as arousal, and then rated their familiarity with the music (also on scales ranging from 1 to 9). Emotion ratings were obtained to explore whether the mechanisms driving pain-reducing effects of sensorimotor synchronization to music include emotion. At the end of the experiment, participants also rated their preference for the music on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (see Method). Familiarity and preference ratings were obtained to elucidate possible contributions of these factors on pain reduction.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 62
• Est. completion date: October 30, 2020
• Est. primary completion date: October 30, 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 19 Years to 35 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• 18 years or older

• Healthy

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of a psychiatric or neurological disease

• History of substance dependence

• use of any prescription drugs

• Hearing impairment

• Musical anhedonia

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Pain

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Experimentally-induced pain
Specific pain levels were applied on the participants' fingernails in each of 40 experimental trials using pressure algometry.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Norway	University of Bergen	Bergen	Bergen Municipality

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Bergen	The Research Council of Norway

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Norway, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Perceived Pain	rated on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1 = very little, 5 = medium, 9 = very strong)	40 minutes (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)
Primary	Emotional state with regard to felt pleasantness	rated on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1 = very uncomfortable, 5 = medium, 9 = very comfortable)	40 minutes (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)
Primary	Emotional state with regard to felt arousal	rated on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1 = very calm, 5 = medium, 9 = very activated)	40 minutes (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)
Primary	Familiarity with the music excerpt (only during trials with music)	rated on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1 = not at all, 5 = partially known, 9 = well known)	40 minutes (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)
Primary	Preference ratings for each musical excerpt	rated on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1 = strongly disliked, 5 = medium, 9 = strongly liked)	5 min (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)