informative speech on how music affects the brain

How does music affect your brain?

Music can have wide-ranging effects on the brain, impacting everything from cognitive performance to stress levels.

african american woman listening to music on the subway

Cognitive performance

Anxiety and depression, dopamine production, the negative effects of music.

Many people listen to music while working, exercising at the gym, or simply relaxing. But how does music affect your brain?

Along with triggering a release of the feel-good hormone dopamine, science has shown that listening to music may boost our cognitive function, potentially relieve symptoms of anxiety and stress, and help us to stay focused. It's no wonder that many of us choose to listen to music before, during and after workouts. To get the most out of that listening experience, check out our list of the best running headphones .

"When you hear a song, your auditory cortex — the part of your brain responsible for processing sound — is activated," Desiree Silverstone , a psychotherapist based in London, England, told Live Science. "This activates other areas of your brain, including the limbic system — responsible for emotion — and the motor cortex, which controls movement."

Silverstone added that as more areas of the brain are activated, we may start to feel the effects of the music. If you're listening to fast-paced music, for example, you may start to feel more alert and energetic. If you're listening to relaxing music, you may start to feel calmer and more relaxed.

How many times have you remembered the lyrics to a song, but couldn't recall what you did over the weekend? Music goes a lot further than just filling a void. In a 2008 study, published in the journal Perception and Motor Skills , researchers discovered that rhythm with or without musical accompaniment may be able to "facilitate recall of text", meaning listening to music could help us to remember pieces of information.

In addition, a 2010 study in Perceptual and Motor Skills found that music may be able to improve our cognitive function outside the context of memory tasks. The experiment, which tasked 56 male and female university students with completing a linguistic and spatial processing task while listening to 10 excerpts of Mozart symphonies, found that background music was linked to an increase in the speed of spatial processing (how fast we recognize the shapes, patterns and positions of objects) and the accuracy of linguistic processing (our ability to process words).

Asian woman listing to music as she walks

But why is this? According to a 2007 study published in the journal Aging Clinical and Experimental Research , this improvement in our brain function could be explained by the "arousal-and-mood hypothesis." The hypothesis asserts that music enhances our level of arousal, meaning how awake and alert we feel, and this puts us at an optimal level to enhance memory recall. In particular, the theory suggests that adding entertaining auditory backgrounds makes a learning task more interesting and therefore increases the learner's overall level of arousal.

Related: Can music really influence your workout?

According to a 2017 review published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology , music may be beneficial in reducing symptoms of depression. In 26 out of 28 studies the researchers analyzed, there was a significant reduction in depression levels over time in the groups that listened to music compared to the control groups that didn't. In particular, older individuals (without a specific condition) showed improvements when they listened to music or participated in music therapy. Music therapy can involve listening to, playing, composing, or interacting with music.

According to psychotherapist Jordan Vyas-Lee , co-founder of the Kove Clinic, a therapy clinic in London, England, listening to upbeat or happy music can help to light up neural networks that store positive and personal memories. "This is the sort of information that gets blocked during bouts of depression and which needs unlocking to stimulate problem solving skills and adaptive, positive behavioral repertoires," Vyas-Lee told Live Science.

Vyas-Lee is a psychotherapist and the clinical director of Kove Clinic in London, England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Birmingham, England, and postgraduate studies at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, and University College London.

Vyas-Lee emphasized that music alone is unlikely to "cure" depression, but it "can act as an aid to recovery."

A 2022 review published in the journal Musicae Scientiae found that listening to music had a significant effect on alleviating diagnosed anxiety in a range of groups. The most common "session time" was 30 minutes, said the authors, although they suggested comparing different durations would be useful for drawing further conclusions as to how long one must listen to music to experience anxiety relief.

Prolonged periods of stress can wreak havoc on your body. But just like yoga , meditation and exercise, experts say that listening to music can also lower physical and psychological stress.

Music "fundamentally affects the release of neurochemicals in the brain, increasing the release of serotonin and dopamine and reducing the effects of cortisol," Vyas-Lee said. He pointed to a 2015 study published in the journal The Lancet that showed how listening to music before, during and after surgery reduced pain and stress associated with medical procedure.

"But evidence here is patchy," he cautioned. Based on the current evidence, it seems that "music stimulates physiological and psycho-emotional responses, opening up brain pathways that link to positive memories and feelings, in turn reducing stress."

Dopamine is a signaling molecule that acts as a chemical messenger in the nervous system and as a hormone that can affect many tissues in the body; it performs many roles in the body, but is best known for its association with feelings of pleasure and happiness. And according to Silverstone, music can trigger the release of this feel-good hormone.

"When dopamine levels rise, we feel good and our mood improves," she told Live Science. "Dopamine is also involved in the brain's reward system, which explains why we often feel pleasure when listening to music."

A 2019 study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America appears to support this mechanism. Researchers orally administered a dopamine precursor (levodopa), a dopamine antagonist (risperidone), and a placebo (lactose) to three different groups who were tasked with listening to 10 pop songs and five of their favorite musical excerpts . They found that the dopamine precursor, levodopa, compared with placebo, increased the body's pleasure responses. Those given the dopamine antagonist experienced a reduction of both.

It's been shown that music can improve our frame of mind, but it can also lower our mood — especially when we are already in a negative state of mind. In a 2019 article published in the Psychology of Music , researchers found that 17% of all participants taking part in the experiment reported feeling sadder as a consequence of listening to sad music when they were already feeling low. However, 74% of participants were not saddened by sad music.

"Listening to sad or anger-filled music for too long can increase the release of cortisol and stimulate brain areas associated with negative emotion," said Vyas-Lee." It can even switch on the threat detection systems in the brain.

"How somebody listens to music, how they interact with their choice of music, and how repeatedly they listen to a certain music type is probably key in the resulting effects on their emotional health."

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.

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Becks is a freelance journalist and writer writing for a range of titles including Stylist, The Independent and LiveScience covering lifestyle topics such as health and fitness, homes and food. She also ghostwrites for a number of Physiotherapists and Osteopaths. When she’s not reading or writing, you’ll find her in the gym, learning new techniques and perfecting her form.

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Music and the brain: the neuroscience of music and musical appreciation

Michael trimble.

1 Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK, email ku.ca.lcu.noi@elbmirtm

Dale Hesdorffer

2 Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center and Department of Epidemilogy, Columbia University, New York City, USA

Through music we can learn much about our human origins and the human brain. Music is a potential method of therapy and a means of accessing and stimulating specific cerebral circuits. There is also an association between musical creativity and psychopathology. This paper provides a brief review.

Art history is the unfolding of subjectivity…. (T. Adorno)

An evolutionary perspective

There have been many attempts to identify behaviours which reliably distinguish our species, Homo sapiens , from our closest living cousins. Ascribed activities, from tool-making to having a theory of mind and empathy, have been rejected, as observations of anthropologists and ethnologists continue to emphasise similarities rather than differences placing us within the great chain of beings. There can be no doubt about the greater development of our cognitive attributes, linked closely with the evolutionary developments of our brain, in terms of both size and structure. Bipedalism, the use of fire, the development of effective working memory and our vocal language efficient communication have all emerged from these genetic–environmental adaptations over several million years (Pasternak, 2007 ).

Two features of our world which are universal and arguably have been a feature of an earlier evolutionary development are our ability to create and respond to music, and to dance to the beat of time.

Somewhere along the evolutionary way, our ancestors, with very limited language but with considerable emotional expression, began to articulate and gesticulate feelings: denotation before connotation. But, as the philosopher Susanne Langer noted, ‘The most highly developed type of such purely connotational semantic is music’ (Langer, 1951 , p. 93). In other words, meaning in music came to us before meaning given by words.

The mammalian middle ear developed from the jaw bones of earlier reptiles and carries sound at only specific frequencies. It is naturally attuned to the sound of the human voice, although has a range greater than that required for speech. Further, the frequency band which mothers use to sing to their babies, and so-called motherese or child-directed speech, with exaggerated intonation and rhythm, corresponds to that which composers have traditionally used in their melodies. In the same way that there is a limited sensitive period in which the infant can learn language and learn to respond to spoken language, there must be a similar phase of brain development for the incorporation of music.

One of the differences between the developed brains of Homo sapiens and those of the great apes is the increase in area allocated to processing auditory information. Thus, in other primates the size of the visual cortex correlates well with brain size, but in Homo sapiens it is smaller. In contrast, increases in size elsewhere in the human brain have occurred, notably in the temporal lobes, especially the dorsal area that relates to the auditory reception of speech. The expansion of primary and association auditory cortices and their connections, associated with the increased size of the cerebellum and areas of prefrontal and premotor cortex linked through basal ganglia structures, heralded a shift to an aesthetics based on sound, and to abilities to entrain to external rhythmic inputs. The first musical instrument used by our ancestors was the voice. The ear is always open and, unlike vision and the eyes or the gaze, sound cannot readily be averted. From the rhythmic beating within and with the mother’s body for the fetus and young infant, to the primitive drum-like beating of sticks on wood and hand clapping of our adolescent and adult proto-speaking ancestors, the growing infant is surrounded by and responds to rhythm. But, as Langer ( 1951 , p. 93) put it, ‘being more variable than the drum, voices soon made patterns and the long endearing melodies of primitive song became a part of communal celebration’. Some support for these ideas comes from the work of Mithen, who has argued that spoken language and music evolved from a proto-language, a musi-language which stemmed from primate calls and was used by the Neanderthals; it was emotional but without words as we know them (Mithen, 2005 ).

The suggestion is that our language of today emerged via a proto-language, driven by gesture, framed by musicality and performed by the flexibility which accrued with expanded anatomical developments, not only of the brain, but also of the coordination of our facial, pharyngeal and laryngeal muscles. Around the same time (with a precision of many thousands of years), the bicameral brain, although remaining bipartite, with the two cooperating cerebral hemispheres coordinating life for the individual in cohesion with the surrounding environment, became differently balanced with regard to the functions of the two sides: pointing and proposition (left) as opposed to urging and yearning (right) (Trimble, 2012 ).

The experience of music

A highly significant finding to emerge from the studies of the effects in the brain of listening to music is the emphasis on the importance of the right (non-dominant) hemisphere. Thus, lesions following cerebral damage lead to impairments of appreciation of pitch, timbre and rhythm (Stewart et al , 2006 ) and studies using brain imaging have shown that the right hemisphere is preferentially activated when listening to music in relation to the emotional experience, and that even imagining music activates areas on this side of the brain (Blood et al , 1999 ). This should not be taken to imply that there is a simple left–right dichotomy of functions in the human brain. However, it is the case that traditional neurology has to a large extent ignored the talents of the non-dominant hemisphere, much in favour of the dominant (normally left) hemisphere. In part this stems from an overemphasis on the role of the latter in propositional language and a lack of interest in the emotional intonations of speech (prosody) that give so much meaning to expression.

The link between music and emotion seems to have been accepted for all time. Plato considered that music played in different modes would arouse different emotions, and as a generality most of us would agree on the emotional significance of any particular piece of music, whether it be happy or sad; for example, major chords are perceived to be cheerful, minor ones sad. The tempo or movement in time is another component of this, slower music seeming less joyful than faster rhythms. This reminds us that even the word motion is a significant part of e motion , and that in the dance we are moving – as we are moved emotionally by music.

Until recently, musical theorists had largely concerned themselves with the grammar and syntax of music rather than with the affective experiences that arise in response to music. Music, if it does anything, arouses feelings and associated physiological responses, and these can now be measured. For the ordinary listener, however, there may be no necessary relationship of the emotion to the form and content of the musical work, since ‘the real stimulus is not the progressive unfolding of the musical structure but the subjective content of the listener’s mind’ (Langer, 1951 , p. 258). Such a phenomenological approach directly contradicts the empirical techniques of so much current neuroscience in this area, yet is of direct concern to psychiatry, and topics such as compositional creativity.

If it is a language, music is a language of feeling. Musical rhythms are life rhythms, and music with tensions, resolutions, crescendos and diminuendos, major and minor keys, delays and silent interludes, with a temporal unfolding of events, does not present us with a logical language, but, to quote Langer again, it ‘ reveals the nature of feelings with a detail and truth that language cannot approach’ (Langer, 1951 , p. 199, original emphasis).

This idea seems difficult for a philosophical mind to follow, namely that there can be knowledge without words. Indeed, the problem of describing a ‘language’ of feeling permeates the whole area of philosophy and neuroscience research, and highlights the relative futility of trying to classify our emotions – ‘Music is revealing, where words are obscuring’ (Langer, 1951 , p. 206).

Musical ability and psychiatric disorder

There is an extensive literature attesting to some associations between creativity and psychopathology (Trimble, 2007 ). The links seem to vary with different kinds of high achievement, and mood disorders are over-represented. Although samples of creative people have a significant excess of cyclothymia and bipolarity, florid manic–depressive illness is relatively uncommon. Biographies of famous musicians are of considerable interest in exploring brain–behaviour associations. Attempts to transform descriptions of people from biographies into specific DSM diagnoses cannot achieve high levels of validity and reliability, since lack of autobiographical materials and reliable contemporary medical accounts makes any diagnostic formulation necessarily tentative. However, with regard to classical composers within the Western canon, it must be of considerable significance that there are so many who seem to have suffered from affective disorders, the incidence of mood disorders ranging between 35% and 40% (Mula & Trimble, 2009 ). It is possible that similar associations occur in non-Western composers, although studies have not been published. In contrast, none seems to have had schizophrenia. These results have importance in understanding the structure and function of the human brain, and suggest avenues for therapeutic investigation which will vary with diagnosis.

Music therapy

Music provides and provokes a response, which is universal, ingrained into our evolutionary development, and leads to marked changes in emotions and movement. The anatomical associations noted above suggest that music must be viewed as one way to stimulate the brain. Music provides a non-invasive technique, which has attracted much interest but little empirical exploration to date. The therapeutic value of music can be in part explained by its cultural role in facilitating social learning and emotional well-being. However, a number of studies have shown that rhythmic entrainment of motor function can actively facilitate the recovery of movement in patients with stroke, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury (Thaut, 2005 ). Studies of people with memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, suggest that neuronal memory traces built through music are deeply ingrained and more resilient to neurodegenerative influences. Findings from individual randomised trials suggest that music therapy is accepted by people with depression and is associated with improvements in mood disorders (Maratos et al , 2008 ). Further, the potential applications of music therapy in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorders, albeit intuitive, have led to psychotherapeutic uses aimed at directly evoking emotions.

Evidence suggests that music can decrease seizure frequency, stop refractory status epilepticus and decrease electroencephalographic spike frequency in children with epilepsy in awake and sleep states. We know that many people with epilepsy have electroencephalographic abnormalities and, in some people, these can be ‘normalised’ by music. In addition to the need for trials of musical interventions in epilepsy, we should also consider whether the results of sonification of an electroencephalogram, which directly reflects the time course of cerebral rhythms, may be used to entrain ‘normal’ brain rhythms in people with seizure disorders. Alteration of the electroencephalogram via biofeedback of different components of sonified electroencephalography, or modulation of the musical input to a stimulus that affects the emotional state of the patient and hence cerebral and limbic activity and cerebral rhythms, are therapeutic possibilities which are currently being investigated (Bodner et al , 2012 ).

These data suggest that the effects and cost-effectiveness of music therapy in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders should be further explored. To date, most work has been done with Western-style compositions, and the well structured music of Mozart and Bach has been a popular basis for interventions. The following paper by Shantala Hegde notes the potential of other musical styles as therapy. Through music we learn much about our human origins and the human brain, and have a potential method of therapy by accessing and stimulating specific cerebral circuits.

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How music can boost connections in our brain

Plaster phrenological models of heads, showing different parts of the brain, are seen at an exhibition at the Wellcome Collection in London March 27, 2012. We've pickled it, dessicated it, drilled it, mummified it, chopped it and sliced it over centuries, yet as the most complex entity in the known universe, the human brain remains a mysterious fascination. With samples of Albert Einstein's preserved brain on slides, and specimens from other famous and infamous heads such as the English mathematician Charles Babbage and notorious mass murderer William Burke, an exhibition opening in London this week is seeking to tap into that intrigue. The exhibition Brains: The Mind As Matter runs from March 29 to June 17. REUTERS/Chris Helgren (BRITAIN - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY HEALTH) - RTR2ZYK1

Like language, music challenges our brains. Image: REUTERS/Chris Helgren

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Learning music can help grow and enhance connections in the brain.
These could help build cognitive function and potentially stave of conditions like dementia.
It's thought music could play a similar role as language.

Music soothes, energizes and inspires. It also fortifies pathways in your brain that neurologists say can lead to a better understanding of cognition and dementia.

To help better understand how music strengthens the brain, Dr. Bernard Bendok, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, explains how music strikes a chord with researchers in this Mayo Clinic Minute.

“One of the higher functions that a human brain can engage with is the performance of music,” says Bendok.

Have you read?

How music helped people cope with covid-19 stress, this is how music helps us get through difficult times, a neuroscientist explains why being bilingual makes your brain more robust.

“As you master those instruments, there are certain connections that grow and get enhanced in the brain. The brain likes to be challenged. We know that the more languages you know, the less your risk of dementia. And music happens to be a language.”

“Understanding music allows neurologists and neurosurgeons and neuroscientists to better understand the brain,” continues Bendok.

“It’s a great way to better map the brain, both for enhancing the safety of surgery, but also for exploring new avenues for new therapies for various conditions of the human brain, including degenerative diseases and memory problems.

By understanding these pathways that contribute to musical memory and cognitive memory, this will allow us to solve the problems of degeneration like dementia, but also open new opportunities to enhance function.”

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Review Article
Published: 29 March 2022

Music in the brain

Peter Vuust ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4908-735X 1 ,
Ole A. Heggli ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7461-0309 1 ,
Karl J. Friston ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7984-8909 2 &
Morten L. Kringelbach ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3908-6898 1 , 3 , 4

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 23 , pages 287–305 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Neuroscience

Music is ubiquitous across human cultures — as a source of affective and pleasurable experience, moving us both physically and emotionally — and learning to play music shapes both brain structure and brain function. Music processing in the brain — namely, the perception of melody, harmony and rhythm — has traditionally been studied as an auditory phenomenon using passive listening paradigms. However, when listening to music, we actively generate predictions about what is likely to happen next. This enactive aspect has led to a more comprehensive understanding of music processing involving brain structures implicated in action, emotion and learning. Here we review the cognitive neuroscience literature of music perception. We show that music perception, action, emotion and learning all rest on the human brain’s fundamental capacity for prediction — as formulated by the predictive coding of music model. This Review elucidates how this formulation of music perception and expertise in individuals can be extended to account for the dynamics and underlying brain mechanisms of collective music making. This in turn has important implications for human creativity as evinced by music improvisation. These recent advances shed new light on what makes music meaningful from a neuroscientific perspective.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by The Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF117). The authors thank E. Altenmüller and D. Huron for comments on early versions of the manuscript.

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Peter Vuust, Ole A. Heggli & Morten L. Kringelbach

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Patterns of pitched sounds unfolding over time, in accordance with cultural conventions and constraints.

The combination of multiple, simultaneously pitched sounds to form a chord, and subsequent chord progressions, a fundamental building block of Western music. The rules of harmony are the hierarchically organized expectations for chord progressions.

The structured arrangement of successive sound events over time, a primary parameter of musical structure. Rhythm perception is based on the perception of duration and grouping of these events and can be achieved even if sounds are not discrete, such as amplitude-modulated sounds.

Mathematically, the expected values or means of random variables.

The ability to extract statistical regularities from the world to learn about the environment.

In Western music, the organization of melody and harmony in a hierarchy of relations, often pointing towards a referential pitch (the tonal centre or the tonic).

A predictive framework governing the interpretation of regularly recurring patterns and accents in rhythm.

The output of a model generating outcomes from their causes. In predictive coding, the prediction is generated from expected states of the world and compared with observed outcomes to form a prediction error.

The subjective experience accompanying a strong expectation that a particular event will occur.

An enactive generalization of predictive coding that casts both action and perception as minimizing surprise or prediction error (active inference is considered a corollary of the free-energy principle).

A quantity used in predictive coding to denote the difference between an observation or point estimate and its predicted value. Predictive coding uses precision-weighted prediction errors to update expectations that generate predictions.

Expectations of musical events based on prior knowledge of regularities and patterns in musical sequences, such as melodies and chords.

Expectations of specific events or patterns in a familiar musical sequence.

Short-lived expectations that dynamically shift owing to the ongoing musical context, such as when a repeated musical phrase causes the listener to expect similar phrases as the work continues.

The inverse variance or negative entropy of a random variable. It corresponds to a second-order statistic (for example, a second-order moment) of the variable’s probability distribution or density. This can be contrasted with the mean or expectation, which constitutes a first-order statistic (for example, a first-order moment).

(MMN). A component of the auditory event-related potential recorded with electroencephalography or magnetoencephalography related to a change in different sound features such as pitch, timbre, location of the sound source, intensity and rhythm. It peaks approximately 110–250 ms after change onset and is typically recorded while participants’ attention is distracted from the stimulus, usually by watching a silent film or reading a book. The amplitude and latency of the MMN depends on the deviation magnitude, such that larger deviations in the same context yield larger and faster MMN responses.

(fMRI). A neuroimaging technique that images rapid changes in blood oxygenation levels in the brain.

In the realm of contemporary music, a persistently repeated pattern played by the rhythm section (usually drums, percussion, bass, guitar and/or piano). In music psychology, the pleasurable sensation of wanting to move.

The perceptual correlate of periodicity in sounds that allows their ordering on a frequency-related musical scale.

Also known as tone colour or tone quality, the perceived sound quality of a sound, including its spectral composition and its additional noise characteristics.

The pitch class containing all pitches separated by an integer number of octaves. Humans perceive a similarity between notes having the same chroma.

The contextual unexpectedness or surprise associated with an event.

In the Shannon sense, the expected surprise or information content (self-information). In other words, it is the uncertainty or unpredictability of a random variable (for example, an event in the future).

(MEG). A neuroimaging technique that measures the magnetic fields produced by naturally occurring electrical activity in the brain.

A very small electrical voltage generated in the brain structures in response to specific events or stimuli.

Psychologically, consonance is when two or more notes sound together with an absence of perceived roughness. Dissonance is the antonym of consonance. Western listeners consider intervals produced by frequency ratios such as 1:2 (octave), 3:2 (fifth) or 4:3 (fourth) as consonant. Dissonances are intervals produced by frequency ratios formed from numbers greater than 4.

Stereotypical patterns consisting of two or more chords that conclude a phrase, section or piece of music. They are often used to establish a sense of tonality.

(EEG). An electrophysiological method that measures electrical activity of the brain.

A method of analysing steady-state evoked potentials arising from stimulation or aspects of stimulation repeated at a fixed rate. An example of frequency tagging analysis is shown in Fig. 1c .

A shift of rhythmic emphasis from metrically strong accents to weak accents, a characteristic of multiple musical genres, such as funk, jazz and hip hop.

In Aristotelian ethics, refers to a life well lived or human flourishing, and in affective neuroscience, it is often used to describe meaningful pleasure.

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Vuust, P., Heggli, O.A., Friston, K.J. et al. Music in the brain. Nat Rev Neurosci 23 , 287–305 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-022-00578-5

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Since 2006, two UCF professors — neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya and world-renowned violinist Ayako Yonetani — have been teaching one of the most popular courses in The Burnett Honors College. “Music and the Brain” explores how music impacts brain function and human behavior, including by reducing stress, pain and symptoms of depression as well as improving cognitive and motor skills, spatial-temporal learning and neurogenesis, which is the brain’s ability to produce neurons. Sugaya and Yonetani teach how people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s also respond positively to music.

“Usually in the late stages, Alzheimer’s patients are unresponsive,” Sugaya says. “But once you put in the headphones that play [their favorite] music, their eyes light up. They start moving and sometimes singing. The effect lasts maybe 10 minutes or so even after you turn off the music.”

This can be seen on an MRI, where “lots of different parts of the brain light up,” he says. We sat down with the professors, who are also husband and wife, and asked them to explain which parts of the brain are activated by music.

How the Brain Responds to Music

Click on the region of the brain to the right to learn more about how it effects your perception of music.

Frontal Lobe

Used in thinking, decision-making and planning

“The frontal lobe is the most important to being a human. We have a big frontal lobe compared to other animals. By listening to music, we can enhance its functions,” Sugaya says.

Temporal Lobe

Processes what we hear

“We use the language center to appreciate music, which spans both sides of the brain, though language and words are interpreted in the left hemisphere while music and sounds are inerpreted in the right hemisphere,” Yonetani says.

Broca’s Area

Enables us to produce speech

“We use this part of the brain to express music,” Yonetani says. “Playing an instrument may improve your ability to communicate better.”

Wernicke’s Area

Comprehends written and spoken language

“We use this part of the brain to analyze and enjoy music,” Yonetani says.

Occipital Lobe

Processes what we see

“Professional musicians use the occipital cortex, which is the visual cortex, when they listen to music, while laypersons, like me, use the temporal lobe — the auditory and language center. This suggests that [musicians] might visualize a music score when they are listening to music,” Sugaya says.

Coordinates movement and stores physical memory

“An Alzheimer’s patient, even if he doesn’t recognize his wife, could still play the piano if he learned it when he was young because playing has become a muscle memory. Those memories in the cerebellum never fade out,” Sugaya says.

Nucleus Accumbens

Seeks pleasure and reward and plays a big role in addiction, as it releases the neurotransmitter dopamine

“Music can be a drug — a very addictive drug because it’s also acting on the same part of the brain as illegal drugs,” Sugaya says. “Music increases dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, similar to cocaine.”

Processes and triggers emotions

“Music can control your fear, make you ready to fight and increase pleasure,” Yonetani says. “When you feel shivers go down your spine, the amygdala is activated.”

Hippocampus

Produces and retrieves memories, regulates emotional responses and helps us navigate. Considered the central processing unit of the brain, it’s one of the first regions of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease, leading to confusion and memory loss.

“Music may increase neurogenesis in the hippocampus, allowing production of new neurons and improving memory,” Yonetani says.

Hypothalamus

Maintains the body’s status quo, links the endocrine and nervous systems, and produces and releases essential hormones and chemicals that regulate thirst, appetite, sleep, mood, heart rate, body temperature, metabolism, growth and sex drive — to name just a few

If you play Mozart, for example, “heart rate and blood pressure reduce,” Sugaya says.

Corpus Callosum

Enables the left and right hemispheres to communicate, allowing for coordinated body movement as well as complex thoughts that require logic (left side) and intuition (right side)

“As a musician, you want to have the right-hand side and the left-hand side of the brain in coordination, so they talk to each other,” Sugaya says. This allows pianists, for example, to translate notes on a sheet to the keys their fingers hit to produce music.

Processes rhythm and regulates body movement and coordination

“Music can increase dopamine in this area, and music increases our response to rhythm,” Yonetani says. “By doing this, music temporarily stops the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Rhythmic music, for example, has been used to help Parkinson’s patients function, such as getting up and down and even walking because Parkinson’s patients need assistance in moving, and music can help them kind of like a cane. Unfortunately, after the music stops, the pathology comes back.”

Areas of the Brain

Here’s how you know

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
National Institutes of Health

Music and Health: What You Need To Know

.header_greentext{color:green!important;font-size:24px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_bluetext{color:blue!important;font-size:18px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_redtext{color:red!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_darkred{color:#803d2f!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_purpletext{color:purple!important;font-size:31px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_yellowtext{color:yellow!important;font-size:20px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_blacktext{color:black!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_whitetext{color:white!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.header_darkred{color:#803d2f!important;}.Green_Header{color:green!important;font-size:24px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Blue_Header{color:blue!important;font-size:18px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Red_Header{color:red!important;font-size:28px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Purple_Header{color:purple!important;font-size:31px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Yellow_Header{color:yellow!important;font-size:20px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.Black_Header{color:black!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;}.White_Header{color:white!important;font-size:22px!important;font-weight:500!important;} Can music be good for you?

Yes, according to a growing body of research. Listening to or making music affects the brain in ways that may help promote health and manage disease symptoms.

Performing or listening to music activates a variety of structures in the brain that are involved in thinking, sensation, movement, and emotion. These brain effects may have physical and psychological benefits. For example, music causes the release of brain chemicals (neurotransmitters and hormones) that can evoke emotional reactions, memories, and feelings and promote social bonds. Music can even affect the structure of the brain. Certain structures in the brain have been found to be larger in musicians than nonmusicians, with particularly noticeable changes in people who started their musical training at an early age.

Increasing evidence suggests that music-based interventions may be helpful for health conditions that occur during childhood, adulthood, or aging. However, because much of the research on music-based interventions is preliminary, few definite conclusions about their effects have been reached. Many reports on the potential benefits of music-based interventions come from observations of individuals or small groups of people. Evidence of this type is valuable for suggesting new ideas, but carefully designed, scientifically rigorous studies of larger numbers of people are needed to provide stronger evidence on whether music-based interventions are effective for specific purposes.

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Music therapy is a health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs. The term “music therapy” is not a description of a specific type of intervention. Instead, it indicates the education, training, and credentials of the therapist who is delivering the intervention.

Music therapy may involve a variety of different activities, including music improvisation, music listening, song writing, music performance, and learning through music. Music therapists may work in many different settings, such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, nursing homes, senior centers, rehabilitation facilities, or schools.

Some of the music-based interventions described in this fact sheet fit the definition of music therapy, but others do not. For example, music-based interventions that involve listening to recorded music are often delivered by health professionals other than music therapists (such as nurses), and therefore do not fit the definition of music therapy.

You can learn more about music therapy on the website of the American Music Therapy Association .

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In general, research studies of music-based interventions do not show any negative effects. However, listening to music at too high a volume can contribute to noise-induced hearing loss. You can find out about this type of hearing loss on the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders website .

In addition, because music can be associated with strong memories or emotional reactions, some people may be distressed by exposure to specific pieces or types of music. Extensive playing of musical instruments can lead to pain and injury. Music-based interventions that involve exercise or other types of movement could also lead to injury if appropriate safety precautions are not taken.

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The preliminary research that has been done so far suggests that music-based interventions may be helpful for anxiety, depressive symptoms, and pain associated with a variety of health conditions, as well as for some other symptoms associated with dementia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and other conditions.

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As mentioned in other sections of this fact sheet, there’s evidence that music-based interventions may help to relieve pain associated with specific health conditions. The two review articles listed below describe evidence indicating that music may be helpful for pain more generally. Newer research continues to find evidence that music may be helpful for pain from a variety of causes, but not every study has shown a beneficial effect.

A 2016 review looked at 97 studies (9,184 participants) of music-based interventions for acute or chronic pain associated with a variety of health problems and medical procedures. The overall evidence suggested that music-based interventions may have beneficial effects on both pain intensity and emotional distress from pain and may lead to decreased use of pain-relieving medicines.
A 2017 review of 14 randomized trials (1,178 participants) of music-based interventions for various types of chronic pain found that the interventions reduced self-reported chronic pain and associated depressive symptoms, with a greater effect when the music was chosen by the participant rather than the researcher. The study participants had a variety of conditions that can cause chronic pain, including cancer, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, or osteoarthritis, and most of the interventions involved listening to recorded music.
Many but not all newer studies of music-based interventions for pain have had promising results. For example, in recent studies, music-based interventions were helpful for pain associated with childbirth, cancer chemotherapy, a procedure in which shock waves are used to break up kidney stones, retrieval of eggs for in vitro fertilization, treatment of nose fractures, and sickle cell disease. However, music didn’t seem to be helpful for reducing moderate pain further after use of a lidocaine spray for loop electrosurgical excision (a gynecological procedure), and the results of studies on pain during cystoscopy (a procedure in which a tube is inserted into the bladder) and pain during colonoscopy were inconsistent.

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Music-based interventions have been evaluated for their effects on anxiety in a variety of disease conditions and health care settings. Some examples are given in this section, and others are discussed in the sections on specific health conditions. Most studies have had promising results, except for studies on anxiety associated with dental care.

A 2013 review of 26 studies (2,051 participants) showed that listening to recorded music significantly reduced anxiety in people who were waiting to have surgery. However, there was potential for bias in most of the studies because the investigators who performed the studies knew which participants had listened to music.
A 2016 review of 17 studies (1,381 participants) that evaluated the effect of music-based interventions on anxiety in adults with cancer suggested that the interventions may have a large anxiety-reducing effect. However, there was a high risk of bias in the studies.
A 2015 review of 5 studies (290 participants) in people who were having dialysis treatments suggested that listening to music reduced anxiety. However, these studies have limitations because of their small size and high risk of bias.
A 2018 review concluded that it’s unclear whether listening to music is helpful for dental anxiety. Some studies have suggested that listening to music as a distraction may not be adequate to reduce anxiety in children or highly anxious adults who are having dental care. More active types of music-based interventions (for example, a music-assisted relaxation technique that’s taught to the patient in advance) might be helpful in dental settings but have not been evaluated in formal studies.

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It’s uncertain whether music-based interventions are helpful for people with ASD.

A 2021 review of 22 studies (850 participants) on music therapy for children with ASD was unable to reach any definite conclusions on whether adding music therapy to their care is beneficial, although some studies had promising results. For example, some studies of educational music therapy (involving techniques such as musical games) showed possible benefits on the children’s speech, and some studies of improvisational music therapy (in which children produce music) showed possible benefits on social functioning.
One particularly notable study of music therapy for children with ASD (which was included in the review described above) was a multinational trial involving 364 children from 9 countries. It is the largest study completed so far, and its design was especially rigorous. In this study, the severity of symptoms related to difficulties in social communication did not differ between children who received music therapy along with standard care and those who received standard care alone.

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Preliminary evidence suggests that music-based interventions may be helpful for several types of distress in people with cancer.

A 2021 review of randomized controlled trials (studies in which participants were randomly assigned to a music-based intervention group or a control group), which included 81 trials and 5,576 participants, concluded that in adults with cancer, music interventions may have a large anxiety-reducing effect, a moderately strong beneficial effect on depression, a moderate pain-reducing effect, and a large effect on the quality of life. Most of the trials had a high risk of bias, so their results need to be interpreted with caution. Only seven of the studies included in this review involved children. Two of these studies suggested a beneficial effect on anxiety; no other conclusions could be reached from the small amount of evidence available.
A 2021 review of 11 studies (491 participants) on music interventions for children and adolescents with cancer, which included some studies that were less rigorous than a randomized controlled trial, found evidence suggesting that music-based interventions may decrease anxiety, perceived pain, and depression symptoms and improve state of mind, self-esteem, and quality of life.

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A 2021 systematic review of 12 studies (812 participants) showed that music-based interventions were helpful for shortness of breath, anxiety, and sleep quality in adults with COPD but were not helpful for depression. Because the studies were brief (several days to 12 months) and because researchers measured effects in different ways in different studies, there is some uncertainty about the conclusions.

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Much research is being done on the potential benefits of music-based interventions for people with cognitive impairment or various types of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Limited evidence suggests that music-based interventions may improve emotional well-being, behavioral challenges, and quality of life in people with these conditions. Whether the interventions have benefits for cognitive functioning is unclear; effects might depend on the population studied or the type of intervention used.

A 2018 review evaluated 22 studies (1,097 participants) of music-based interventions for people with dementia who were living in institutions. Some of the interventions were receptive (listening to music), some were active (singing, playing instruments, moving to music, etc.), and some were a combination of the two. The evidence from these studies indicated that music-based interventions probably reduce depressive symptoms and improve overall behavioral challenges. They may also improve emotional well-being and quality of life and reduce anxiety. However, the interventions may have little or no effect on agitation, aggression, or cognitive function.
A 2021 review looked at 21 studies (1,472 participants) of people with either mild cognitive impairment or mild or moderate dementia; some of the people studied were living in institutions, but others were living in the community. All the music interventions were active; studies that only involved listening to music were not included. Nine of the studies (495 participants) were included in a quantitative analysis of effects on cognitive functioning; this analysis indicated that the music-based interventions had a small beneficial effect. There was also some evidence for beneficial effects on mood and quality of life.

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A 2017 review looked at 9 studies (421 participants) of music-based interventions in adults or adolescents with depression. There was moderate-quality evidence that adding music-based interventions to usual treatment improved depression symptoms when compared with usual treatment alone. Music-based interventions also helped decrease anxiety levels and improve functioning of people with depression (for example, their ability to maintain involvement in work, activities, and relationships).

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A 2020 systematic review of 7 studies (334 participants) found evidence that music-based interventions were beneficial for pain, depression, and quality of life in people with fibromyalgia. However, the amount of research was limited, and the quality of the research was low.

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A 2021 review of music-based interventions for people with multiple sclerosis (10 trials, 429 participants) found consistent evidence that the interventions were beneficial for coordination, balance, some aspects of gait and walking, emotional status, and pain, but no effect was observed for mental fatigability or memory.

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Researchers are evaluating the potential benefits of several types of music-based interventions for Parkinson’s disease symptoms.

Rhythmic auditory stimulation. Rhythmic auditory stimulation uses pulsed sounds (such as those produced by a metronome) to help people synchronize their movements to the rhythm of the sounds. This technique is used to help people with Parkinson’s disease improve their ability to walk. A 2021 analysis of 5 studies (209 total participants) showed significant improvements in gait speed and stride length in people with Parkinson’s disease who participated in rhythmic auditory stimulation. However, the quality of evidence was low, and the number of studies and participants was small.
Music-based movement therapy. Music-based movement therapy combines physical activities such as dance or rhythmic exercises with music. Therapies that involve physical activity have been shown to be helpful for a variety of Parkinson’s disease symptoms. Adding music to the therapy might have additional benefits by providing auditory cues for movement and making the activities more enjoyable. A 2021 analysis of 17 studies (598 participants) of music-based movement therapy showed evidence of improvements in motor function, balance, freezing of gait, walking speed, and mental health but not gait cadence, stride length, or quality of life.
Singing. The potential benefits of singing for people with Parkinson’s disease have been studied primarily in terms of effects on speech. In a 2016 review of 7 studies (102 participants), 5 studies found some evidence of a beneficial effect on speech.

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Music-based interventions are widely used in neonatal intensive care units. However, evidence for physiological benefits for newborn infants is limited.

In a 2020 review of 16 studies (826 infants), 12 of the studies found some evidence of benefits on physiological outcomes (such as heart rate or oxygen saturation), but several of the studies included only small numbers of infants, and the intervention methods used varied from one study to another. The reviewers concluded that the current data are insufficient to confirm physiological benefits. No harmful effects of music-based interventions were seen in the studies included in this review.

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Music-based interventions have been evaluated as adjunct treatments (additions to usual treatment) for people with schizophrenia. A 2020 review of 18 studies (1,212 participants) indicated that adjunct music-based interventions may improve a group of schizophrenia symptoms known as “negative symptoms,” such as reduced emotion and self-neglect, as well as depression symptoms and quality of life. However, music-based interventions did not reduce “positive symptoms,” such as hallucinations and delusions. The quality of the evidence was low.

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Listening to music may improve sleep quality in people with insomnia.

A 2022 review looked at 13 studies (1,007 participants) that examined the effect of listening to recorded music in people with insomnia. The studies suggested music had no effect on insomnia severity compared to no treatment or treatment as usual. Moderate-certainty evidence did suggest, however, that listening to music has a beneficial effect on subjective sleep quality. The studies also provided low-certainty evidence that listening to music might help improve the speed of falling asleep, the length of time spent sleeping, and the amount of time a person is asleep compared to the total time spent in bed.
It’s common for older people to have trouble sleeping. A 2021 review looked at 16 studies of music-based interventions for sleep in older adults (812 participants); 11 studies evaluated music listening, and the other 5 evaluated more complex interventions. The results were mixed, with some studies suggesting that the music interventions were helpful, while others did not.

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Music-based interventions, particularly music therapy, may be helpful for improving physical and psychological markers associated with stress, according to two related reviews.

In a 2020 review with 104 studies (9,617 participants), investigators looked at the effects of a variety of music-based interventions on measures associated with stress, including both physical measures (heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of stress-related hormones) and psychological measures (anxiety, nervousness, restlessness, and feelings of worry). The music-based interventions had a small-to-medium sized beneficial effect on the physical measures and a medium-to-large beneficial effect on the psychological measures.
A second review looked at 47 studies (2,747 participants) of music therapy (excluding other music-based interventions) and found an overall medium-to-large beneficial effect on stress-related outcomes. The effects were greater than those seen in the larger review. The investigators who performed the review suggested that the opportunity for music therapists to tailor interventions to the needs of individual patients might account for the difference.

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Music-based interventions may be helpful in the rehabilitation of people who have had a stroke. A 2019 review of 27 studies (730 participants) found positive effects on physical status (upper-limb activity, various aspects of walking, balance), cognition (paying attention, communication), and mood. In particular, rhythmic auditory stimulation (which involves the use of a metronome combined with physical activities) had beneficial effects on gait and balance, and receptive music therapy (which involves listening to music while performing another task) was helpful for mood and some aspects of cognitive function.

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Tinnitus is the symptom that people often describe as “ringing in the ears,” although it can also sound like roaring, clicking, hissing, or buzzing. It can be caused by noise-induced hearing loss, blockage of the ear canal by earwax, ear or sinus infections, or other health conditions, or by starting or stopping various medications. Sometimes, tinnitus has no obvious cause.

Sound therapies. Various types of sounds, including music, have been used to try to mask tinnitus. However, according to a 2019 review of studies conducted up to that time, the effects of these sound therapies are modest; few people achieve complete remission of tinnitus from sound therapies.
Notched music therapy. A specific type of music therapy called “notched” music therapy has been suggested as a possible way to reduce the severity of tinnitus. Notched music therapy involves listening to music that has been modified to remove sounds close in frequency to the frequency of the tinnitus sound perceived by the patient. Two recent studies that compared notched music with conventional music did not find notched music to be more helpful in reducing the symptoms or impact of tinnitus. However, some earlier studies suggested that the loudness of tinnitus sounds could be reduced with notched music therapy.

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NIH and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts, are sponsoring an initiative called Sound Health to increase understanding of music’s effect on the brain and the potential clinical applications. The first Sound Health research projects began in 2019. Some projects are investigating music’s mechanism of action in the brain and how music may be applied to treat symptoms of disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and chronic pain. Others are looking at the effects of music on children’s developing brains.

Topics of NCCIH-supported studies within the Sound Health initiative include:

The effects of music-based interventions on neurodevelopment and pain response in preterm infants
Using self-generated rhythmic cues to enhance gait in people with Parkinson’s disease
The impact of singing interventions on markers of cardiovascular health in older people with cardiovascular disease

In collaboration with the Foundation for the NIH and the Renée Fleming Foundation, NIH has developed a toolkit for rigorous, reproducible, well-powered music-based interventions for brain disorders of aging, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke. Three workshops were held in 2021 to gather input from experts in a variety of relevant fields, and a request for information was issued to get stakeholder feedback. The toolkit , which was released in 2023, will be pilot tested in demonstration projects. NCCIH is playing a lead role in this effort.

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Nccih clearinghouse.

The NCCIH Clearinghouse provides information on NCCIH and complementary and integrative health approaches, including publications and searches of Federal databases of scientific and medical literature. The Clearinghouse does not provide medical advice, treatment recommendations, or referrals to practitioners.

Toll-free in the U.S.: 1-888-644-6226

Telecommunications relay service (TRS): 7-1-1

Website: https://www.nccih.nih.gov

Email: [email protected] (link sends email)

Know the Science

NCCIH and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provide tools to help you understand the basics and terminology of scientific research so you can make well-informed decisions about your health. Know the Science features a variety of materials, including interactive modules, quizzes, and videos, as well as links to informative content from Federal resources designed to help consumers make sense of health information.

Explaining How Research Works (NIH)

Know the Science: How To Make Sense of a Scientific Journal Article

Understanding Clinical Studies (NIH)

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Aalbers S, Fusar-Poli L, Freeman RE, et al. Music therapy for depression . Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2017;(11):CD004517. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on October 29, 2021.
Bieleninik Ł, Geretsegger M, Mössler K, et al. Effects of improvisational music therapy vs enhanced standard care on symptom severity among children with autism spectrum disorder. The TIME—a randomized clinical trial . JAMA. 2017;318(6):525-535.
Bradt J, Dileo C, Magill L, et al. Music interventions for improving psychological and physical outcomes in cancer patients . Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016;(8):CD006911. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on October 29, 2021.
Bradt J, Dileo C, Shim M. Music interventions for preoperative anxiety . Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2013;(6):CD006908. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on October 29, 2021.
Burrai F, Apuzzo L, Zanotti R. Effectiveness of rhythmic auditory stimulation on gait in Parkinson disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis . Holistic Nursing Practice. June 11, 2021. [Epub ahead of print].
Cheever T, Taylor A, Finkelstein R, et al. NIH/Kennedy Center workshop on music and the brain: finding harmony . Neuron. 2018;97(6):1214-1218.
Collins FS, Fleming R. Sound health: an NIH-Kennedy Center initiative to explore music and the mind . JAMA. 2017;317(24):2470-2471.
de Witte M, da Silva Pinho A, Stams G-J, et al. Music therapy for stress reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis . Health Psychology Review. 2022;16(1):134-159.
de Witte M, Spruit A, van Hooren S, et al. Effects of music interventions on stress-related outcomes: a systematic review and two meta-analyses . Health Psychology Review. 2020;14(2):294-324.
Dorris JL, Neely S, Terhorst L, et al. Effects of music participation for mild cognitive impairment and dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis . Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2021;69(9):2659-2667.
Foroushani SM, Herman CA, Wiseman CA, et al. Evaluating physiologic outcomes of music interventions in the neonatal intensive care unit: a systematic review . Journal of Perinatology. 2020;40(12):1770-1779.
Garza-Villareal EA, Pando V, Vuust P, et al. Music-induced analgesia in chronic pain conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis . Pain Physician. 2017;20(7):597-610.
Jespersen KV, Pando-Naude V, Koenig J, et al. Listening to music for insomnia in adults . Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2022;(8):CD010459. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on September 8, 2022.
Lee JH. The effects of music on pain: a meta-analysis . Journal of Music Therapy. 2016;53(4):430-477.
van der Steen JT, Smaling HJ, van der Wouden JC, et al. Music-based therapeutic interventions for people with dementia . Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2018;(7):CD003447. Accessed at cochranelibrary.com on October 29, 2021.

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Acknowledgments

NCCIH thanks Wen Chen, Ph.D., Emmeline Edwards, Ph.D., and David Shurtleff, Ph.D., NCCIH, for their review of this fact sheet.

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Speech or song? Identifying how the brain perceives music

by Cognitive Neuroscience Society

Most neuroscientists who study music have something in common: they play a musical instrument, in many cases from a young age. Their drive to understand how the brain perceives and is shaped by music springs from a deep love of music. This passion has translated to a wealth of discoveries about music in the brain, including recent work that identifies the ways in which the brain distinguishes between music and speech, as will be presented today at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) in San Francisco.

"Over the past two decades, many excellent studies have shown similar mechanisms between speech and music across many levels," says Andrew Chang of New York University, a lifelong violinist, who organized a symposium on music and speech perception at the CNS meeting. "However, a fundamental question, often overlooked, is what makes the brain treat music and speech signals differently, and why do humans need two distinct auditory signals."

New work, enabled in part by computational advances, is pointing toward differences in pitch and rhythm as key factors that enable people starting in infancy to distinguish speech from music, as well as how the predictive capabilities of the brain underlie both speech and music perception.

Exploring acoustical perception in infants

From a young age, cognitive neuroscientist Christina Vanden Bosch der Nederlanden of University of Toronto, Mississauga, has been singing and playing the cello, which have helped to shape her research career. "I remember sitting in the middle of the cello section and we were playing some particularly beautiful music—one where the whole cello section had the melody," she says, "and I remember having this emotional response and wondering 'how is it possible that I can have such a strong emotional response from the vibrations of my strings traveling to my ear? That seems wild!'"

That experience started der Nederlanden on a long journey of wanting to understand how the brain processes music and speech in early development. Specifically, she and colleagues are investigating whether babies, who are learning about communicative sounds through experience, even know the difference between speech and song.

"These are seemingly simple questions that actually have a lot of theoretical importance for how we learn to communicate," she says. "We know that from age 4, children can and readily do explicitly differentiate between music and language. Although that seems pretty obvious there has been little to no data asking children to make these sorts of distinctions."

At the CNS meeting, der Nederlanden will be presenting on new data collected right before and during the COVID-19 pandemic about the acoustic features that shape music and language during development. In one experiment, 4-month-old infants heard speech and song, both in a sing-songy infant-directed manner and in a monotone speaking voice, while recording electrical brain activity with electroencephalogram (EEG).

"This work novelly suggests that infants are better at tracking infant-directed utterances when they're spoken compared to sung, and this is different from what we see in adults who are better at neural tracking sung compared to spoken utterances," she says. They also found that pitch and rhythm each affected brain activity for speech compared to song, for example, finding that exaggerated pitch was related to better neural tracking of infant-directed speech—identifying the lack of "pitch stability" as an important acoustic feature for guiding attention in babies.

While the exaggerated, unstable pitch contours of infant-directed speech, has been well-established as a feature infants love, this new research shows it also helps to signal whether someone is hearing speech or song. Pitch stability is a feature, der Nederlanden says, that "might signal to a listener 'oh this sounds like someone singing,'" and the lack of pitch stability can conversely signal to infants that they are hearing speech rather than playing with sounds in song.

In an online experiment, der Nederlanden and colleagues asked kids and adults to qualitatively describe how music and language are different. "This gave me a rich dataset that tells me a lot about how people think music and language differ acoustically and also in terms of how the functional roles of music and language differ in our everyday lives," she explains. "For the acoustic differences, kids and adults described features like tempo, pitch, rhythm as important features for differentiating speech and song."

In future work, der Nederlanden hopes to move toward more naturalistic settings, including using mobile EEG to test music and language processing outside of the lab. "I think the girl sitting in the orchestra pit, geeking out about music and emotion, would be pretty excited to find out that she's still asking questions about music and finding results that could have answered her questions from over 20 years ago!"

Identifying the predictive code of music

Guilhem Marion of Ecole Normale Supérieure has two passions that drive his research: music and computer science. He has combined those interests to create novel computational models of music that are helping researchers understand how the brain perceives music through "predictive coding," similar to how people predict patterns in language.

"Predictive coding theory explains how the brain tries to predict the next note while listening to music, which is exactly what computational models of music do for generating new music," he explains. Marion is using those models to better understand how culture affects music perception, by pulling in knowledge based on individual environments and knowledge.

In new work conducted with Giovanni Di Liberto and colleagues, Marion recorded EEG activity of 21 professional musicians who were listening to or imagining in their minds four Bach choral pieces. In one study, they were able to identify the amount of surprise for each note, using a computational model based on a large database of Western music. This surprise was a "cultural marker of music processing," Marion says, showing how closely the notes were predicted based on a person's native musical environment.

"Our study showed for the first time the average EEG response to imagined musical notes and showed that they were correlated with the musical surprise computed using a statistical model of music," Marion says. "This work has broad implications in music cognition but more generally in cognitive neuroscience, as they will enlighten the way the human brain learns new language or other structures that will later shape its perception of the world."

Chang says that such computational-based work is enabling a new type of music cognition study that balances good experimental control with ecological validity, something challenging for the complexity involved in music and speech sounds. "You often either make the sounds unnatural if everything is well controlled for your experimental purpose or preserve their natural properties of speech or music, but it then becomes difficult to fairly compare the sounds between experimental conditions," he explains. "Marion and Di Liberto's groundbreaking approach enables researchers to investigate, and even isolate, the neural activities while listening to a continuous natural speech or music recording."

Chang, who has been playing violin since he was 8-years old, is excited to see the progress that has been made in music cognition studies just in the last decade. "When I started my Ph.D. in 2013, only a few labs in the world were focusing on music," he says. "But now there are many excellent junior and even well-established senior researchers from other fields, such as speech, around the globe starting to get involved or even devoted to music cognitive neuroscience research."

Understanding the relationship between music and language "can help us explore the fundamental questions of human cognition, such as why humans need music and speech, and how humans communicate and interact with each other via these forms," Chang says. "Also, these findings are the basis for the potential applications in clinical and child development domains, such as whether music can be used as an alternative form of verbal communication for individuals with aphasia, and how music facilitates infants learning speech ."

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Music Effects on the Brain

The study of how music affects the memory, motivation, and confidence has been the theme of interest for many researchers in this field. The interrelation of music to the mental and physical health of individuals has been the subject of debate aimed at improving scientific research. Many studies by Cardena (2011, p. 143) have maintained that music has positive effect on our memory, motivation, and confidence.

Music, as Thiam (2006, p. 97) notes, has the power of healing our frequent ailments as human beings. In addition, research validates that the classical forms of music has had an impact on individuals, reporting impressive results on the power of healing particularly ( Effects of Music on the Mind and Brain 2014). Music has a calming effect on the human mind, and an inspiring zeal on the general composure of the body.

Besides, music is an exciting element that hastens human recovery from health illnesses, given its ability to inspire motivation to feel better. More than that, music helps in fighting nervousness, especially due to the comforting impact it has on the mind, the muscles, and the body. Music helps to reduce the impacts of depression.

For instance, when individuals are under depression are gloomy or feeling inadequate, music can offer soothing effects that can raise their composure to normal levels ( Effects of Music on the Mind and Brain 2014).

Dejection has the capacity to moderate the actions of the brain, inhibits the ability of brain to think consistently, and perform certain responsibilities. In this aspect, music induces in individuals an aura of strong will that reverses the impact of depression and autisms in the body (Volkmar 2013, p. 48).

Deficiency of neurotransmitter and serotonin in the brain, according to Koelsch (2014, p. 172), may result in depression. However, listening to music has the ability to inspire the hormones and raise the levels of these elements to equilibrium, making the brain to work optimally.

Soothing musical sounds inspires the production of serotonin levels in the brain, thereby helping in the alleviation of mental depression (Larson 2010). Soothing music has a natural way of making the brain relaxed, creating an aura of confidence in individuals, as well as motivating people in very effective ways.

Among the tried, tested, and trusted benefits of listening to music includes a broad spectrum of ideologies and practicalities that research has sought to validate. To begin with, music has the capacity to relieve anxiety and make the brain more at ease with the body and the environment (Cardena and Winkelman 2011, p. 120).

Anxiety has a unique way of making individuals to degenerate to the lowest ebb of their lives given that it inspires a feeling of fear of the unknown to weigh the body and brain down ( Effects of Music on the Mind and the Brain 2014). The outcome of the unknown makes individuals worried, and this might lead to temporary brain malfunction with probable greater consequences in the event that this trend escalates.

Increased levels of anxiety, according to Hallam, Cross, and Thaut (2009, p. 62), may lead to stress, and, further, culminate into insomnia. Additionally, lengthy instances of worry may lead to ailments related to nervousness. Though if noted in time, making such individuals to listen to music can be instrumental in checking the menace (Koelsch 2014, p. 175).

Introducing music to individuals undergoing extreme levels of anxiety can help in relaxing their brain and raise their hormones back to normal levels ( Effects of Music on the Mind and the Brain 2014).

Used in this way, music can help in calming the body nerves and, finally, sooth the mind to easiness. Flat musical notes can also be instrumental in inducing sleep in individuals with sleep-related disorders, thereby helping in their brain development.

Music has the capacity to motivate individuals as it affects both the learning and the thinking processes (Jensen 2005, p. 309).Studies in sciences suggest that soft background music stimulates the mind and the brain to absorb knowledge and retain data ( Effects of Music on the Mind and the Brain 2014). Individuals listening to soothing beats while doing some work help them to work more rapidly.

In the process, they become more effective too. Music used in this way, therefore, helps individuals to feel motivated, and people become more positive about work in general. According to Cardena and Winkelman (2011, p. 127), research in this area indicates that music makes individuals more consistent in learning as it brings about remarkable progresses in fast tracking motivation in individuals.

Students can also find meaningful motivation in their respective studies while listening to music given that music breaks the monotony of everyday classroom work. As Hallam et al. (2009, p. 65) note, students who attend classes that prescribe certain kinds of musical notes while studying in the laboratory record greater progress results as they become more involved in their tasks than those with no musical notes.

Listening to some pleasant music, while doing some boring work or difficult task will eventually spur motivation to make the work look easier (Curtis 2008). Normally, an individual working while listening to some soft music at the background usually records least interruptions from other environmental hitches.

Due to least interruption, such people concentrate more on what they do, thus making them produce quality results in their tasks.

Research in this area also holds that music has the capacity to boost confidence, especially in individuals with low self-esteem (Hallam et al. 2009, p. 72). Music has an affirmative influence in developing the interactive skills of entities. Lack of sureness as well as no aspiration to comprehend is one of the attributes to letdown.

Accordingly, it is not always the inability of people to learn, rather, it is due to lack of confidence in what one does (Avanzini 2003, p. 296). Individuals have every endowment to learn given motivation and chance to do so.

Indeed, it is only that the prevailing situations in different settings may make some people to own up and let their low self-esteem weigh them down. Learners attaining poor grades in learning institutions, for example, are not essentially devoid of the required intellect.

Most educators agree that musical involvement advances students’ self-discipline, coordination, dexterity, thinking skills, self-esteem, creative abilities, listening skills, and personal expression, each of which supports learning in very profound ways. Most music educators, though, are not aware of specific research that will support such feelings and observations ( Music and Student Development 2014).

As Thiam (2006, p. 117) notes, the students’ disinterest in the subjects in question leads them to record poor grades. However, music classes can help the learners to regain composure and fight out their low-esteem lag that makes them perform dismally. Music, therefore, helps in boosting learner confidence, encouraging them to explore new ideas.

In so doing, they venture in new fields giving them the basic orientation of people, places, and ideas that they previously felt was impermeable. From this perspective, music increases people’s ability in believing in themselves and in increasing their capacity to think big.

The effects of music in the recovery of physiological difficulties experienced after a stressful aperture induced by aversive visual stimuli are equally great.

Studies show that the relaxing nature of music is effective in regulating the spectral of the frontal temporal lobe, rejuvenating the skin conductance, moderating the heart beat variability, creating the respiration ambience, as well as encrypting the facial capillary blood current (Cardena and Winkelman 2011, p. 128).

Under normal circumstances, aversive visual stimulation evokes heart rate deceleration and decrease facial blood flow that could be detrimental in causing visual impairment. In such situations, respiration rate gets to unguided levels that may make the brain not to function optimally.

Studies show that pleasant music has the capacity to restore the baseline levels of several parameters and the recovery process of most of the body tissues (Sokhadze 2007, p. 37). Music relaxes the body thereby exerting positive modulatory effects on respiratory and cardiovascular activity.

Such activities regulate increased heart rate with the ability to balance the heart period variability, while regulating vascular blood flow, as well as respiration rate in the course of post-stress recovery (Sokhadze 2007, p. 43). In much of the research done in this area, data has been consistent to the effect that positive emotions guaranteed by music facilitate the process of neurochemistry recovery that arise from negative emotions

Invariably, music stands out as a universal feature in human development, partly due to its power and capacity to evoke strong sensations and influence moods. Investigation both in the scopes of science and art continue to develop their expanse of the richness of music to the wellbeing of man (Cardena and Winkelman 2011, p. 131).

In numerous studies, the neural correlation of music with its capacity to evoke emotions in individuals continues to be an invaluable element in the understanding and study of human emotions (Koelsch 2014, p. 177).

It is no doubt that functional neuroimaging research based on music and feeling demonstrate that music has the capacity to moderate actions in the mind much of which are critically encompassed in developing emotions.

Several brain structures such as hypothalamus, hippocampus, cingulate cortex insula, orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, and nucleus acumens heavily rely on hormones to inspire them to perform their desired functions (Cardena and Winkelman 2011, p. 139).

The possibilities of music to inspire and control hormones to act in these arrangements have imperative inferences for the application of music in the management of neurological and psychiatric ailments.

Essentially, emotions inspire the brain and enhance the processes of memory (Norden, Reay and Leven 2007, p. 60). Since music has the ability to evoke strong emotions, it could be instrumental in inspiring the brain to rise to the occasion and perform its duties optimally. To that effect, music arouses individuals either about a particular music, an event, or about an episode or information related to a particular music.

Neuroscience studies enhance insights into the role of music in relaxing the brain to inspire memory. Playing musical instruments, according to Jensen (2005, p. 313), acts as a multi-sensory as well as a motor experience generating emotions and motion tapping of the finger to dancing. Seen in this way, music engages the pleasure while acting as the reward element in the brain systems (Norden et al. 2007, p. 61).

Moreover, music has the potential to alter brain function as well as the brain structure when done well for over a period. Accordingly, intense musical tutelage and exposure has the capacity to generate and inspire new processes in the brain, and, normally, this occurs at different stages in life (Jensen 2005, p. 314).

As Norden et al. 2007, p. 68) observe, music is instrumental in developing the brain with a range of impacts based on creativity, the learning process, and cognition among other things.

Whether the purpose of music has to be for recreation, entertainment, or enhancement of moods, Koelsch (2014, p. 178) supports Forinash (2001, p. 33) argument that many people listen to music for various reasons, especially for its inspiring value.

Because of its potent and ubiquity, music is very effective in the construction and correction of autobiographical memories while helping in building judgments about others and on oneself (Forinash 2001, p. 34). Several elements in human development factor in the role of music such as aiding in memory formation and recalling of autobiographical facets and episodic information.

From the forgoing analysis, it becomes clear that music has a vital role in developing individuals in very many special ways. In essence, music is an essential and extremely valuable tool in the way individuals learn. Music has a calming effect on individuals and, indeed, an inspiring zeal on the composure of individuals generally.

Music has the ability to incite hormones exciting and speed up human recovery from health ailments given its ability to inspire motivations ( Music and Student Development 2014). Apart from that, music’s comforting influence aids in fighting nervousness since it relaxes the muscles, the brain, and eventually the whole body.

Neuroscience, in particular, offers firsthand and profound perceptions into the function of music in composure of sentiments. Moreover, neuroscience studies enhance understandings into the role of songs in feelings, relaxing the brain to inspire retention. Moreover, music helps to reduce the impacts of depression; it is true that when individuals undergo depression, they become gloomy, making them feel inadequate.

Music, therefore, can offer the basic soothing effects that can bring the discomfits back to normal levels. As observed, depression has the capacity to moderate brain functions, inhibits the ability of the brain to think and reason with a high level of consistency, and carry out certain tasks. When played along, it induces in individuals an aura of strong will that reverses the impact of depression weighing down the body.

Finally, since deficiency of neurotransmitter and serotonin in the brain may go down because of depression, music offers itself as a correctional factor that incites the hormones needed to raise neurotransmitter and serotonin to normal levels. In retrospect, listening to music has the ability to inspire the hormones and raise the levels of the brain structures to equilibrium, making the brain to work optimally.

In conclusion, as the case may be, comforting musical sounds inspires the production of serotonin levels, thereby helping in the alleviation of mental dejection. Soothing music, therefore, has a natural way of making the brain relaxed, creating an aura of confidence in individuals, while motivating to rise to the occasion and feel better.

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Volkmar, F. R 2013, Encyclopedia of autism spectrum disorders , Springer, New York.

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IvyPanda. (2023, November 22). Music Effects on the Brain. https://ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-neuroscience/

"Music Effects on the Brain." IvyPanda , 22 Nov. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-neuroscience/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'Music Effects on the Brain'. 22 November.

IvyPanda . 2023. "Music Effects on the Brain." November 22, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-neuroscience/.

1. IvyPanda . "Music Effects on the Brain." November 22, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-neuroscience/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Music Effects on the Brain." November 22, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/music-and-neuroscience/.

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Informative Speech Topics About Music

Informative Speech Topics About Music : Informative speech requires you to provide or teach an audience about a certain topic. In this case, to come up with a good informative speech about music you must fully understand the topic you are to present. You should have a deep understanding of the music topic you choose. Below is a wide range of music topics that you can develop your informative speech on.

1. The History of hip hop music

2. Role of music in African culture

3. Effects of music on human emotions

4. Music and its role in revolution and activism

5. Significance of Music of advertisement.

6. Importance of music in early education

7. Role of music in therapy for memory enhancement

Read: Informative Speech Topics About Music

8. Use of music in contemporary fitness activities

9. Ethical implication of music piracy and infringement of copyright issues

10. Use of classical music in modern-day movies and theatres

11. Evolution of music from ancient times to the modern era.

12. Musical instruments in the ancient world

13. Jazz music in African American

14. The Origin of Blue Music

15. Impact of world war on Music

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16. The influential life of the Beatles.

17. Impact of Technology on Music production and distribution

18. Challenges female singers in building a successful music career.

19. Influence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a prolific and influential composer

20.Challenges that affect music bands

Music Informative Speech Topics

1. Influence of music on fashion

2. Learning how to play the violin

Read: Interesting Funny Informative Speech Topics

3. How music affects an athlete’s performance

4. How African Rhythms have influenced the African American Music

5. Psychological effects of music on the brain development of a child

6. How music can be used to improve mental well being

7. Importance of music schools in influencing the quality of music produced in a certain community

8. Role of YouTube in the globalization of music

9. History of rock music

10. African Musical Instruments

Read: Sports Informative Speech Topics

Final Thought

As you come up with a good informative speech, take time and research the area you are good at and one that has much information as possible. With enough facts, knowledge, and good demonstrations your speech on music will be superb.

Betty is a qualified teacher with a Bachelor of Education (Arts). In addition, she is a registered Certified Public Accountant. She has been teaching and offering part-time accounting services for the last 10 years. She is passionate about education, accounting, writing, and traveling.

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COMMENTS

How Music Resonates in the Brain
Patrick Whelan. Music also lights up nearly all of the brain — including the hippocampus and amygdala, which activate emotional responses to music through memory; the limbic system, which governs pleasure, motivation, and reward; and the body's motor system.This is why "it's easy to tap your feet or clap your hands to musical rhythms," says Andrew Budson, MD '93, chief of cognitive ...
Music's power over our brains
Meanwhile, in conjunction with the Global Council on Brain Health's strong endorsement of more research on music and brain health, an AARP survey of 3,185 adults found that music has a small but statistically significant impact on people's self-reported mental well-being, depression and anxiety. Others are examining whether music ...
Informative Speech
Music is popular, not expensive, and readily accessible to most people, which is why it is so important to recognize the positive effects that music can have on the body. Transition: One part of the body music has a positive effect on the brain. Body 1: Scientific Effects on the brain. A. Chemicals released
How Our Brains Process Music
Listening to a melody can sway our emotions because the auditory neurons that process music are in conversation with emotional centers in the brain. "Composers talk about musical tension and resolution," Sankaran said. "Our ability to expect and anticipate these features of music explains how it can set an upbeat tone or bring us to tears
How does music affect your brain?
Music "fundamentally affects the release of neurochemicals in the brain, increasing the release of serotonin and dopamine and reducing the effects of cortisol," Vyas-Lee said. He pointed to a 2015 ...
Music and the brain: the neuroscience of music and musical appreciation
Abstract. Through music we can learn much about our human origins and the human brain. Music is a potential method of therapy and a means of accessing and stimulating specific cerebral circuits. There is also an association between musical creativity and psychopathology. This paper provides a brief review.
How music can boost connections in our brain
A neuroscientist explains why being bilingual makes your brain more robust. "As you master those instruments, there are certain connections that grow and get enhanced in the brain. The brain likes to be challenged. We know that the more languages you know, the less your risk of dementia. And music happens to be a language.".
Music in the brain
Abstract. Music is ubiquitous across human cultures — as a source of affective and pleasurable experience, moving us both physically and emotionally — and learning to play music shapes both ...
Music and your health, with Daniel Levitin, PhD
Neuropsychologist Daniel Levitin, PhD, studies the neuroscience of music and how music affects our mental and physical health.Levitin is a professor of psychology, behavioral neuroscience and music at McGill University in Montreal. He is the author of the book "This Is Your Brain on Music."Levitin has degrees in cognitive psychology and cognitive science from Stanford University and the ...
Music and the Brain: What Happens When You're Listening to Music
In recent studies, they've found that people with dementia respond better to the music they grew up listening to. "If you play someone's favorite music, different parts of the brain light up," Sugaya explains. "That means memories associated with music are emotional memories, which never fade out — even in Alzheimer's patients.".
Music and Health: What You Need To Know
Yes, according to a growing body of research. Listening to or making music affects the brain in ways that may help promote health and manage disease symptoms. Performing or listening to music activates a variety of structures in the brain that are involved in thinking, sensation, movement, and emotion. These brain effects may have physical and ...
Speech or song? Identifying how the brain perceives music
Identifying how the brain perceives music. Most neuroscientists who study music have something in common: they play a musical instrument, in many cases from a young age. Their drive to understand ...
Speech or Song? Identifying How the Brain Perceives Music
This passion has translated to a wealth of discoveries about music in the brain, including recent work that identifies the ways in which the brain distinguishes between music and speech, as will be presented today at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) in San Francisco. "Over the past two decades, many excellent ...
Informative Speech
Main Point 1: Why Musicians Have Healthier Brains For evidence of how music affects the brain, it makes sense to look at the brains of those who play a lot of music — professional musicians. According to new research from the Journal of Neuroscience, brain scans show that musicians' brains are different than those of non-musicians.
Informative Speech: Music And Its Effects Of The Brain
According to the New York Times, many people use music to make a repetitive job more interesting or energetic. Some of the more melodious music out there can help release much higher amounts of dopamine which is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. By rewarding the mind we allow our mind to be happy ...
How the Human Brain Detects the 'Music' of Speech
By Nicholas Weiler. Researchers at UC San Francisco have identified neurons in the human brain that respond to pitch changes in spoken language, which are essential to clearly conveying both meaning and emotion. The study was published online Aug. 24, 2017, in Science by the lab of Edward Chang, MD, a professor of neurological surgery at the ...
Music Effects on the Brain
Music, as Thiam (2006, p. 97) notes, has the power of healing our frequent ailments as human beings. In addition, research validates that the classical forms of music has had an impact on individuals, reporting impressive results on the power of healing particularly (Effects of Music on the Mind and Brain 2014).Music has a calming effect on the human mind, and an inspiring zeal on the general ...
30 Informative Speech Topics About Music 2024
Informative Speech Topics About Music. 1. The History of hip hop music. 2. Role of music in African culture. 3. Effects of music on human emotions. 4. Music and its role in revolution and activism.
Informative Speech: How Music Affects The Brain
Music can enhance a child's developing brain. According to writer for Fast Company Belle Cooper "The Surprising Science Behind What Music Does To Our Brains" it enhances sensory information such as hearing, touch, and sight. 2. Music can repair brain damage caused by stroke and other brain injuries.
Informative Speech: How Listening to Music Affects the Brain
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How Music Affects the Brain- Informative Speech
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ELC590 Informative Speech
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