Music and pain

I’ve written in a previous post that people exposed to pleasant music feel less pain than people listening to unpleasant music or to no music at all.  Some studies have suggested that happy music (typically music with faster tempo and major mode) is better at relieving pain than sad music.  A study by Chinese researchers published earlier this year in the journal Pain showed that both sad and happy melodies lower pain perception in healthy volunteers, as long as the melodies are pleasant.  This study adds to the growing evidence that music can indeed relieve pain and, not surprisingly, that the music has to be pleasant.