Choice of music for hospital rooms

Nutrition Health Review, Spring, 2003

Because people are fairly accurate in predicting which music will be most pleasurable to them, they should be given choices when music is being used to manage their moods and emotions, as in hospital rooms or during therapy, a Penn State University study says.

"Data from our analysis suggest that while anticipated pleasure is a key reason for choice of music, Americans will also pick music to enhance mood or will match their musical selection with a specific activity such as jogging, aerobic dancing, or reading a favorite book, says Dr. Valerie N. Stratton, associate professor of psychology at the Altoona Campus in Pennsylvania.

Study participants also listed time of day and other people who were present as determinants in choosing a particular kind of music, she adds.

People are also capable of changing their minds about a song they initially dislike, notes co-author Annette H. Zalanowski, associate professor of music. She tested 20 study participants to see whether, once they selected a musical piece based on pleasure, they still liked it after a specific period of listening. In most cases, they did. At the same time, however, participants who listened to music that they thought they would not like reported a greater degree of actual pleasure than what they anticipated.

The researchers summarized their findings at the Annual Meeting of the American Music Therapy Association in Atlanta. Their study is ongoing.

They listed 30 musical selections in alphabetical order for their sample group. The genres included rock, pop, oldies, jazz, classical, country, ballads, and blues.

"Participants in the study were given the list of musical selections and asked to rate how much pleasure they thought they would receive from listening to each one," says Dr. Stratton. "We employed a 10-point rating system, ranging from 'no pleasure' to 'the most pleasure I could get from music.'"

"The average rating for the selection chosen as the one participants most wanted to listen to was 8.85, while the average rating for the least desired selection was 2.75," Ms. Zalanowski says. "The group of participants who listened to the most wanted selection had rated the piece 8.5 prior to listening and 8.25 after listening."

The group that listened to their least desired selection rated the piece 3.0 before listening and 4.1 after, which represented a significant change of opinion, according to Ms. Zalanowski.

"The results are consistent with other non-music studies on decision-making which look at the role of emotion in making choices," Dr. Stratton notes. "Remaining questions include what makes a particular piece of music pleasurable for a particular person, and what are the various forms of pleasure in music-listening."