Treatments integrating music and auditory beat stimulation are effective
in reducing anxiety in some patients, a recent study suggested. Anxiety has been
steadily increasing, particularly in the adolescent and young adult
populations, over recent decades. Studies have previously shown that
listening to music can reduce anxiety, perhaps even more effectively
than some anti-anxiety medications.
However, quantitative data on the effects of
personalized music on anxiety has been lacking. In the new study, the
researchers randomized 163 patients taking anti-anxiety medications to
participate in an at-home treatment session involving music, auditory
beat stimulation, both, or pink noise--background sounds similar to
white noise.
The music was selected for each patient using LUCID's artificial
intelligence which curates music based on the patient's emotional state
and music preferences. Auditory beat stimulation involves combinations
of tones, played in one or both ears, designed to trigger changes to
brain activity. In all groups, patients were asked to download a
customized application on their smart phone for the treatment, close
their eyes, and listen to a 24-minute session.
Among people with moderate anxiety before the
treatment session, greater reductions in somatic anxiety--the physical
symptoms of anxiety--were seen in people who listened to both music and
ABS (p=0.04, effect size=0.83), or those who listened to music alone
(p=0.05, effect size=0.52), compared to those who listened to pink
noise. The greatest reductions in cognitive state anxiety, the aspect of
anxiety related to thoughts and feelings, were also seen in moderate
trait anxiety participants who listened to both music and ABS.
Among
people with high trait anxiety before the session, the music-alone
group had significantly higher reductions in anxiety compared to the
ABS-alone group (p=0.04, effect size=0.72). The authors concluded that
sound-based treatments can be effective in reducing state anxiety and
potentially offer a simple and easily distributable method of treating
anxiety in a segment of the population. Drs. Russo and Malik said: "With
the pandemic and remote work, there has been a remarkable uptick in the
use of digital health tools to support mental health. The results of
this clinical trial indicate great promise for the use of digital health
tools, such as LUCID's digital music therapy, in the management of
anxiety and other mental health conditions."
They added, "The findings from this research are exciting as they
indicate that personalized music shows great promise in effectively
reducing anxiety in specific segments of the population that suffer from
anxiety. Hopefully, with additional research, we can help build a solid
evidence base which further supports the use of personalized music as
an additional tool in the clinician's toolbox that can be used to help
reduce anxiety in the patient population."