Music Therapy

Music therapy is a clinical discipline that employs musical experiences—such as active music-making, guided listening, improvisation and songwriting—to address physical, emotional and cognitive needs. Delivered by credentialled practitioners, it operates across diverse populations and settings, from neonatal care and perioperative units to community mental health and neurorehabilitation. Interventions harness rhythm, melody and interpersonal synchrony to modulate mood, reduce pain perception and support motor and speech rehabilitation. By engaging preserved neural pathways, music therapy can induce neuroplastic changes, facilitate sensorimotor integration and strengthen connectivity within cortico-limbic networks. Its global application reflects both the scalability of technologies for personalised music delivery and the emphasis on non-pharmacological, patient-centred approaches that complement standard medical and psychological treatments.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent clinical trials have demonstrated immediate benefits of receptive music interventions on anxiety and physiological markers in acute care. A single-session music therapy protocol for hospitalised patients with respiratory illness showed significant reductions in state anxiety scores alongside improved oxygen saturation. In critical burn care, electrophysiological analyses during structured music-assisted relaxation revealed shifts in EEG oscillations, increased high-frequency heart rate variability and reduced facial muscle tension, suggesting enhanced parasympathetic activity and attentional shifts. Another multicentre trial in vascular access procedures found that self-selected music exposure before and during venous catheter placement led to lower post-procedural anxiety and reduced heart rate, highlighting music’s role in procedural comfort and stress modulation.

Music Therapy publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in music therapy across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Randomised Controlled Trial: A study design allocating participants by chance to intervention or control arms to minimise bias.

Neural Entrainment: The alignment of brain oscillations with external rhythmic stimuli, facilitating sensorimotor and cognitive synchrony.

Heart Rate Variability: A measure of variation in intervals between heartbeats, reflecting autonomic nervous system balance.

Non-pharmacological Intervention: A therapeutic approach that does not rely on medications, often leveraging behavioural or sensory modalities.

Electrophysiological Signals: Bioelectric measurements (like EEG or EMG) that index neural or muscular activity during interventions.

References

1. Introduction.
2. Effect of single session receptive music therapy on anxiety and vital parameters in hospitalized Covid-19 patients: a randomized controlled trial. Scientific Reports (2022).
3. Music therapy with adult burn patients in the intensive care unit: short-term analysis of electrophysiological signals during music-assisted relaxation. Scientific Reports (2024).
4. A prospective randomized controlled trial assessing the effect of music on patients’ anxiety in venous catheter placement procedures. Scientific Reports (2022).
5. Technology-Based Music Interventions to Reduce Anxiety and Pain Among Patients Undergoing Surgery or Procedures: Systematic Review of the Literature. JMIR mHealth and uHealth (2024).
6. Effect of a music intervention on anxiety in adult critically ill patients: a multicenter randomized clinical trial. Journal of Intensive Care (2023).
7. Effects of music intervention during caesarean delivery on anxiety and stress of the mother a controlled, randomised study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2018).