Replication Study: Reducing Pain With Focused Music Listening

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to confirm previous findings that actively tapping along to music can reduce pain more than just listening to music. This study aims to replicate the findings of a previous study (NCT05267795), with one change in how mild pain is created for the experiment. This study involves healthy adults.

The main questions the study aims to answer are:

1. Does actively tapping along to music lower feelings of pain compared to just listening to music?
2. Does actively tapping along to music lower feelings of pain compared to being in silence (with or without tapping)?
3. Is this method of using music and tapping helpful for managing pain?

Researchers will compare the amount of pain participants feel in four different situations:

1. Listening to music while actively tapping their foot along with it.
2. Just listening to music while resting their foot.
3. Actively tapping their foot in silence.
4. Sitting in silence while resting their foot.

Participants in this study will:

Experience brief moments of mild pain on their forearm. This pain is safely created using a small electrical pulse from a device held gently on the skin by the researcher. (This replaces the pressure method used in the original study).

Sometimes listen to music through headphones, and sometimes sit in silence. Sometimes tap their foot along to the music or a beat, and sometimes rest their foot. Rate how much pain they feel on a number scale after each pain pulse. Answer short questions about their mood during the experiment. Answer questions about how familiar they are with the music and how much they liked it at the end.

Conditions

• Pain
• Pain Management
• Pain Threshold
• Painful
• Pain Intensity
• Pain Intervention
• Psychomotor Performance
• Healthy Volunteers

Interventions

OTHER

Music Listening

Participants listen to selected instrumental music excerpts presented via headphones during designated experimental trials.

OTHER

Silence Control

Participants experience periods of silence with no music presented via headphones during designated control trials. This serves as the auditory control condition compared to Music Listening.

OTHER

Active Sensorimotor Synchronization

Participants actively synchronize movements (such as foot tapping and/or head nodding) by timing them with the rhythm of the presented music or with a pacing stimulus provided during silent trials.

OTHER

Passive Control Task

Participants remain still and do not perform specific instructed synchronized movements during designated control trials. This serves as the motor task control condition compared to Active Sensorimotor Synchronization.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Research Council of Norway

  collaborator OTHER

• European Research Council

  collaborator OTHER

• University of Bergen

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Stefan Koelsch, PhD · Institute for Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

19 Years

Max Age

35 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-03-01

Primary Completion

2025-04-20

Completion

2025-04-20

Countries

• Norway

Study Locations