In the last five years, international interest on nonphamalogical pain management methods has been increasing (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). Music listening became the subject of most studies which revealed that music induces emotional attributes which in turn aids in the tolerance of pain (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). This audioanalgesia technique has been tested in line with and during less efficacy of drug treatment. Meanwhile, as proposed by previous researches, the distraction of attention and tolerance of pain are the theoretical bases underpinning audioanalgesia (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008).
The cognitive aspect of distraction lies on the limited capacity of attention; thus, any interfering stimulus limits the ability of the mind in perceiving the first task at hand (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). In connection to this, early studies delved on arithmetic and other difficult mental tasks in dealing with attention distraction. At present, researches showed that emotion-related stimulus strongly hinder the process of attention (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008).
Music is well-fitted as emotional-engagement stimulus for it spontaneously enchants our attention through rhythm and melody. In addition, contemporary psychological notion in the theory of music emphasized the reason behind music emotional engagement is far beyond the music alone. The theory also included memory, personal experiences, and meanings as emotional factors in music perception (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). On the other hand, the tolerance mechanism may increase pain endurance resulting to a less traumatic experience.
In other words, the ability to use music in a hostile environment leads to control over pain development. However, studies conducted on emotional music engagement are flawed with some methodological limitations such as lack of standardized instrument and incomplete theoretical ground (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). Furthermore, most music employed on those studies were classified as “anxiolytic” in nature and identified with relaxing characteristics (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). Literature Review
In 2004, Voss, Good, Yates, Baun, Thompson, and Hertzog reported the efficacy of music over rest and pain control in open-heart surgery patients while Good, Stanton-Hicks, Anderson, Cong, and Ahn in 2005, observed pain and distress reduction on patients of intestinal surgery through relaxation and music listening (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). Similarly, in 2007 Roy, Rainville, and Peretz found a negative correlation between pleasant music or pain-reducing music and pain intensity using eighteen volunteers in a case study of thermal stimulation (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008).
Additionally, Kenntner-Mabiala, Pauli, Alpers, George, and Lehman through thermal-induced pain dealt with the musical criteria on the reduction of pain and classical music (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). They observed that the mode of classical music has no significant effect on pain reduction efficacy and only female subjects had increased in pain intensity. On the contrary, in 2003, MacDonald, Ashley, Dillon, Davies, Mitchell, and Serpell found that music engagement has failed to reduce the pain among hysterectomy patients (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008).
However, they noted that the passionate desire to share their operative experiences in group was one factor for the non-significant finding (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). To further investigate this matter, controlled experimental studies and research instruments were devised including the “cold pressor” pain reduction technique. With these, Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen (2008), investigated audioanalgesia and revealed that participants exhibited greater endurance of induced pain as they were allowed to freely choose their music from their respective collection.
It is worthy to note, however, that anxiolytic music has failed to increase pain tolerance (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). In the follow up study conducted by Mitchell and MacDonald, they found that music preference of the patients led towards longer pain endurance as compared with arithmetic task and humorous audiotape (Mitchell, MacDonald, and Knussen, 2008). For a conclusive clinical trials, Mitchell, Knussen, MacDonald, and Serpel in 2007, conducted a wide-scale survey on patients of chronic pain with regards to the efficacy of music listening on pain management.