Patients who listen to music during surgery recover faster and require fewer drugs

Summary: Listening to music during surgery speeds recovery and reduces stress

A study conducted at the Lok Nayak Hospital and Maulana Azad Medical College in India reveals that patients undergoing gallbladder surgery who listened to music during the procedure required fewer anesthetics and had a lower physiological stress response. They had a calm recovery and an improved outcome with no adverse effects. (1)

Benefits of Music during Surgery

Thus randomized study involved 56 patients with ages ranging from 18 to 65 years, who had their gallbladder removed under general anesthesia employing laparoscopic surgery.

While undergoing surgery, patients don't feel pain yet their bodies suffer from physiological stress (increased blood pressure, higher heart rate and hormonal levels) which influences the outcome of the surgery and recovery times (stress induces inflammation and can slow recovery). Furthermore, different drugs are used to manage these responses.

The study's goal was to reduce the requirement for anestesia while improving stress levels during and after the procedure (perioperative stress).

The authors found that:

Music therapy reduced the total propofol consumption and decreased the stress response to surgery as assessed by serum cortisol levels. Patients in the music therapy group had a calm recovery and a decrease in the intraoperative fentanyl requirement. Hence, we can conclude that patient selected receptive music therapy may be used as a safe and effective, non-pharmacological aid to reduce intraoperative anaesthetic requirements and improve overall patient outcome with no adverse effects. Goel, Husain, Wadhawan, Kohli & Kaushik. (2025) (1)

The study split patients into two groups, one listened to patient-selected music using noise-cancelling headphones (group M - for Music), the other didn't (Control or C-group). Surgical stress was measured using cortisol levels and the consumption of propofol, which is a sedative and anesthetic. Additional drugs such as fentanyl, and outcomes such as quality of awkening and patient satisfaction were also noted.

• Fewer drugs needed for the Music Group_ "Total propofol consumption was significantly reduced in group M. Group M also showed a significantly reduced fentanyl requirement".
• Lower stress: "improved hemodynamic stability, a reduction in post operative serum cortisol levels and an improved quality of awakening" in the Music-listening group.

The Riker Agitation Scale uses a 7-point scale to evaluate the level of consciousness and agitation of patients; it is used to assess the need for sedation and pain management of patients. In this study the score for the M group was 3.64 while the C group was 4. Showing that the music-listening patients had lower levels of agitation, indicative of a calm recovery.

References and Further Reading

(1) Goel, Husain, Wadhawan, Kohli & Kaushik. (2025). Effect of patient selected music therapy on propofol consumption in laparoscopic cholecystectomy under total intravenous anaesthesia: A randomised controlled trial. Music & Medicine. Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 212-218, October.