Playing Soft Sounds Linked to Numbing Pain

 

In the 1960s a study was conducted where music was played for patients during an ongoing operation, and it was found that they experienced less pain. Certain patients didn’t even require anesthesia during the procedures due to the music that was being played. After this finding, mice were tested on to test the theory of music dulling down pain. This could be an important breakthrough in finding a way for scientists to treat pain in humans. Since the study came out, researchers tested the dulling of pain effect by playing music varying from Mozart to Michael Bolton. This resulted in less pain and a decrease in aches in patients who have fibromyalgia when they listened to their favorite music. 

            

Researchers tried to study the mechanism of why music numbs pain. To do this they started to use mice in their studies. Every day, researchers played 20 minutes of symphonic music to mice, and the mice’s paws were injected with a painful solution. The paws were then poked with thin filaments at different pressure levels to see how the mice responded. Flinching, licking, or pulling their paws back indicated that they felt pain. When sound was played at a lower volume at around 50 decibels, the pain in the mice was numbed. The mice didn’t flinch when their paws were prodded. However, the louder the sound was, the more sensitive the mice were to the stimulus. This helped researchers conclude that intensity is the deciding factor in numbing pain in the mice. Researchers then played an unpleasant sound to the mice, this still numbed pain as long as it was played at a soft volume. 

 

To study why music numbed pain, fluorescent red dye was injected into the auditory cortex of mice, the region of the brain which processes sounds. A lot of fluorescent dye was found in the thalamus, which is the area of sensory processing. This possibly indicated that the connection between the thalamus and the auditory cortex are involved in pain suppression. Small electrodes implanted into the brain conveyed that when soft sounds were played, there was decreased activity coming out of the auditory cortex. When the connection between auditory cortex and thalamus was artificially blocked, the mice experienced less pain. Low sound was found to blunt neurological signals between the auditory cortex and thalamus. Researchers are still trying to figure out why a low sound is the “sweet spot” sound in dulling pain. The ultimate goal is to try to treat pain in humans, but there are several differences between mice and humans. This theory needs to be tested in humans through different methods, like using MRI’s instead of an invasive brain technique to study what happens in the brain when a low sound is played. 

 

 

Posted by: Haya Usmani (6) 

 

https://www.science.org/content/article/soft-sounds-numb-pain-researchers-may-now-know-why

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 26, 2022 at 7:23 AM

    Hi Haya! I've heard of surgeons playing music in the OR, which is something that I figured was just to make the time go by, but it's cool to see that it can actually provide some pain relief for patients. I wonder if the type of music or familiarity of the music can make a difference in amount of pain relief?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousOctober 26, 2022 at 7:23 AM

      - Ritika Koirala

      Delete
    2. Haya UsmaniOctober 26, 2022 at 9:25 AM

      Hi Ritika! I've heard of that too, and it's interesting to learn that it is also for the relief for patients. I think researchers found that the type music does not really play a huge part in it as long as a soft sound is played. However, I believe the familiarity factor makes it easier for the brain to recognize for pain relief.

      Delete
  2. Caitlin HooperOctober 26, 2022 at 10:28 AM

    Hi Haya! It is so interesting just how powerful our senses are, to the point that our sense of hearing is able to reduce our sense of touch. Do you think it is possible to eventually use music as a treatment for pain in place of medications?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haya UsmaniOctober 27, 2022 at 7:05 AM

      Hi Caitlin! I agree, it's so interesting to look at the different ways our bodies respond to certain stimuli. I think it's possible, researchers are still studying the idea of soft sounds being linked to numbing pain since this can be a very easy pain diminishing method if its proves effective for everyone.

      Delete
  3. Victoria FlynnOctober 26, 2022 at 12:27 PM

    Hi Haya, I love your blog. I have never heard of this concept before. Thank you for sharing. Music and sound in general seems to have an amazing significant impact on our brains. I have heard of songs and melodies being retained in patients with dementia before and classical muscle linked to higher IQ but never pain associations. This is fascinating. At my job during procedures providers play classical music at an intermediate volume; I'll have to suggest playing it at a low volume. Do you think the low volume has to do with frequency or more-so an emotional/mental correlation? Do you think that these results were from the brain's subconscious?

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    Replies
    1. Haya UsmaniOctober 27, 2022 at 7:09 AM

      Hi Victoria! I found it pretty fascinating too, I've always heard that music reaches certain parts of the brain differently than only words can. I think the subconscious does play a role in the correlation, since during the research some of the patients' favorite music was played and then had an effective numbing result. However, I think the low volume also contributes due to the frequency.

      Delete

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