Replication Study: Reducing Pain With Focused Music Listening

NCT06960226 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: REK NR 2019/1031 7236
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 61
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief 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. 1.Does actively tapping along to music lower feelings of pain compared to just listening to music?
2. 2.Does actively tapping along to music lower feelings of pain compared to being in silence (with or without tapping)?
3. 3.Is this method of using music and tapping helpful for managing pain?
4. 4.Listening to music while actively tapping their foot along with it.
5. 5.Just listening to music while resting their foot.
6. 6.Actively tapping their foot in silence.
7. 7.Sitting in silence while resting their foot.

Conditions

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

Keywords

Pain; Pain Perception; Experimental Pain; Analgesia; Music; Music Listening; Sensorimotor Synchronization; Tapping; Rhythm; Electrical Pain Stimulation; Replication Study; Endogenous Opioid System; Attention; Emotion; Affect; Pain Management; Music Therapy

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Perceived Pain

  rated on a scale ranging from 1 to 9 (1 = very little, 5 = medium, 9 = very strong)

  Time Frame: 40 minutes (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Emotional state with regard to felt pleasantness

  Time Frame: 40 minutes (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)

• Emotional state with regard to felt arousal

  Time Frame: 40 minutes (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)

Other Outcomes (2)

• Familiarity with the music excerpt (only during trials with music)

  Time Frame: 40 minutes (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)]

• Liking ratings for each musical excerpt

  Time Frame: 5 min (duration of time over which each participant is assessed)

Study Arms (1)

Within-Subjects Conditions

EXPERIMENTAL

All participants experience all conditions in a 2x2 within-subjects factorial design. Interventions manipulate two factors: 1. Auditory Condition: Participants listen to selected music (via headphones) or experience silence. 2. Task Condition: Participants perform Active Sensorimotor Synchronization (syncing foot taps/head nods to music or pacing stimulus) or maintain Passive Control (remaining still). Each participant completes trials for all 4 resulting conditions: Music+Active, Music+Passive, Silence+Active, Silence+Passive. Condition order is counterbalanced across participants. During trials, brief non-invasive electrical pain stimuli (BIOPAC system) are delivered to the forearm; intensity is individually calibrated based on pain threshold. Key outcomes (perceived pain, emotional state ratings) are collected.

Other: Music Listening; Other: Silence Control; Other: Active Sensorimotor Synchronization; Other: Passive Control Task

Interventions

Music Listening OTHER

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

Within-Subjects Conditions

Silence Control OTHER

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.

Within-Subjects Conditions

Active Sensorimotor Synchronization OTHER

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.

Within-Subjects Conditions

Passive Control Task OTHER

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.

Within-Subjects Conditions

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 19 Years - 35 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Age 18 years or older
• Self-reported good general health
• Able to understand study procedures and provide informed consent
• Normal or corrected-to-normal hearing (sufficient for music perception)

You may not qualify if:

• Contraindications for Electrical Stimulation:
• Presence of active electronic implants (e.g., cardiac pacemaker, cochlear implant)
• Pregnancy (self-reported)
• History of Epilepsy or seizure disorder
• Presence of local malignancy (especially near the stimulation site on forearm)
• Broken skin, wounds, or significant skin conditions on the right forearm (stimulation site)
• Medical/Neurological History:
• History of significant psychiatric or neurological disease (other than epilepsy, listed above)
• History of substance dependence
• Current diagnosis of a chronic pain condition
• Medication Use:
• Current regular use of prescription analgesic (pain-relief) medication
• Current regular use of psychoactive medication
• Study-Specific:
• Self-reported musical anhedonia (inability to derive pleasure from music)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Bergen: lead
• The Research Council of Norway: collaborator
• European Research Council: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Bergen

Bergen, 5003, Norway

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Pain; Agnosia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Perceptual Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases

Study Officials

• Stefan Koelsch, PhD

  Institute for Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: All participants experience all conditions within a 2x2 within-subjects factorial design. Factors crossed are: 1. Auditory Condition (Music versus Silence) and 2. Task Condition (Active Sensorimotor Synchronization versus Passive Control). The Active task involves participants synchronizing movements (e.g., foot tapping, head nodding) to music or a pacing stimulus. The Passive task requires participants to remain still without performing these specific movements. This results in four experimental conditions: Music+Active, Music+Passive (Listening only), Silence+Active, and Silence+Passive. The order of these conditions is counterbalanced across participants. Brief, non-invasive electrical pain stimuli are delivered to the forearm during experimental trials.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 28, 2025
• First Posted: May 7, 2025
• Study Start: March 1, 2025
• Primary Completion: April 20, 2025
• Study Completion: April 20, 2025
• Last Updated: May 7, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Locations

NO (1)