Comparative Effectiveness of Acupuncture and Receptive Music Therapy for Sleep Disorders amongst Healthcare Workers with Occupational Noise Exposure: A Single-Centre Retrospective Cohort Study

Objective: To evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of acupuncture, receptive music therapy and their combination for managing noise-induced sleep disorders amongst healthcare workers. Methods: This research represents a retrospective cohort analysis of 145 healthcare workers with noise-induced sleep disorders (January 2023–December 2024). The participants received conventional pharmacological treatment ( n = 45), acupuncture monotherapy ( n = 52) or combined acupuncture–music therapy ( n = 48) for 8 weeks. Primary outcomes: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), polysomnographic parameter. Secondary outcomes: salivary cortisol, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life–BREF. Results: Combined therapy demonstrated superior outcomes, with PSQI scores decreasing from 9.47 ± 2.13 to 5.82 ± 1.65 ( Δ = −3.65, P < 0.001) and sleep efficiency improving from 68.35 ± 8.42% to 84.73 ± 6.28% ( P < 0.001). Acupuncture monotherapy achieved comparable results to pharmacotherapy at 8 weeks (PSQI: 7.92 ± 1.98 vs. 7.89 ± 2.03, P = 0.941), with superior sustainability at the 12-week follow-up (7.45 ± 1.89 vs. 8.12 ± 2.08, P < 0.05). Salivary cortisol levels were significantly lower in the combined therapy group (0.52 ± 0.11 µg/dL) than in the control group (0.78 ± 0.15 µg/dL, P < 0.001). Multivariate regression confirmed robustness after adjusting for confounders. Conclusion: Compared with monotherapy approaches, combined acupuncture–music therapy demonstrates superior efficacy for noise-induced sleep disorders, supporting the integration of multimodal approaches in occupational health management.