Effect of music on short-term pain perception during peripheral intravenous cannulation

Background There is no general consensus on which music genre is most effective for a specific condition. The impact of music on subjective pain perception during intravenous cannulation for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan was investigated. Methods 204 patients were assigned to one of four groups: listening to Mozart, favorite music, relaxation music, or no music (control). Pain was assessed using the Visual Analogue Scale at four time points. Results Favorite music significantly reduced pain perception both 30 s and 2 min after puncture while Mozart showed a trend towards reduced pain perception 2 min after puncture. When including only patients with baseline pain ( n = 71), a significant pain reduction was also observed in the Mozart group 2 min, with borderline significance 30 s after puncture, whereas the favorite music group not only intensified reduced pain perception 30 s and 2 min but also caused significant pain reduction immediately after puncture. No effect on pain was found for the relaxation music and control groups. Conclusions Music may be effective for pain relief in unpleasant settings involving short painful interventions. Favorite music should be considered first, whereby patients with baseline pain could also benefit from listening to Mozart, indicating a potential “Mozart effect” in this subgroup. These exploratory results need to be validated in future studies including a higher number of patients.