Effects of Music on Cardiovascular Reactivity Among Surgeons

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of surgeon-selected and experimenter-selected music on performance and autonomic responses of surgeons during a standard laboratory psychological stressor. DESIGN: Within-subjects laboratory experiment. SETTING: Hospital psychophysiology laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 50 male surgeons aged 31 to 61 years, who reported that they typically listen to music during surgery, volunteered for the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Cardiac responses, hemodynamic measures, electrodermal autonomic responses, task speed, and accuracy. RESULTS: Autonomic reactivity for all physiological measures was significantly less in the surgeon-selected music condition than in the experimenter-selected music condition, which in turn was significantly less than in the no-music control condition. Likewise, speed and accuracy of task performance were significantly better in the surgeon-selected music condition than in the experimenter-selected music condition, which was also significantly better than the no-music control condition. CONCLUSION: Surgeon-selected music was associated with reduced autonomic reactivity and improved performance of a stressful nonsurgical laboratory task in study participants.