What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: RCT. Population: Psychological stress (n=44). Intervention: VR-based raga Bhairavi vs. No exposure to raga Bhairavi. Primary outcome: Anxiety, stress, depression (DASS-21), and heart rate variability (HRV) parameters.

What does this research mean for the field?

Listening to VR-based raga Bhairavi for six days significantly reduces depression, anxiety, and stress scores and improves heart rate variability parameters compared to no exposure. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

October 22, 2024Open Access

Raga Bhairavi in virtual reality reduces stress-related psychophysiological markers

Key Result

Listening to VR-based raga Bhairavi for six days significantly reduced depression, anxiety, and stress scores and improved heart rate variability parameters compared to no exposure.

Study Design

Type

RCT (n=44)

Randomization

Randomly assigned

Structured PICO

Does listening to raga Bhairavi in virtual reality reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and improve heart rate variability parameters in healthy young adults?

Population

44 healthy individuals (13 women, 31 men), average age 24.43 years, recruited at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi, India. Key inclusion: ages 18-35 years. Key exclusion: history of heart disease or hypertension, presence of pacemakers or other cardiac implants, surgeries, consumption of alcohol or tobacco products, or taking any medication.

Intervention

Listening to raga Bhairavi (Indian Classical Music) via 360° video in a virtual reality environment (MetaQuest 2 headset) for 15 minutes each day for 6 consecutive days.

Comparator

Control group sitting for 15 minutes without VR-raga (no intervention) for 6 consecutive days.

Outcome

Changes in anxiety, stress, depression (measured by DASS-21 questionnaire) and heart rate variability (HRV) parameters (SDNN, SDHR, HTI, LF/HF, RESP, SD2/SD1, SampEn) after 6 days of intervention.surrogate

A 6-day virtual reality intervention with Indian classical music (raga Bhairavi) significantly reduced psychological stress and improved autonomic balance (HRV) in healthy young adults.

Abstract

The effects of classical music on psychophysiological parameters are not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the impact of listening to raga Bhairavi, an Indian Classical Music for six days on anxiety, stress, depression, and heart rate variability (HRV) parameters. Forty-four individuals were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (VR-raga), where they listened to raga Bhairavi via 360° video in a virtual reality environment, or the control group, where there was no exposure to raga Bhairavi for six days. Before allocation, the HRV baselines (relax-baseline and stress-baseline) were recorded on the first day. On the first and sixth days of the intervention, HRV was monitored, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire was administered before and after the intervention. After six days, all DASS-21 subscales were significantly reduced in the VR-raga group. A similar trend was observed in the seven HRV parameters evaluated in this study, which demonstrated reduced physiological stress and enhanced autonomic balance following the six-day intervention. The findings collectively indicated the efficacy of the VR-based raga Bhairavi intervention in reducing psychological stress markers and highlighted the potential applications of utilizing the VR-based raga intervention for improving mental well-being in the real-world context.

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