Title: Influence of pleasant and unpleasant music on cardiovascular measures and task performance

Authors: B. Geethanjali; K. Adalarasu; M. Jagannath; R. Rajasekaran

Addresses: School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT University Vellore, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India; Department of Biomedical Engineering, SSN College of Engineering, Chennai 603110, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, PSNA College of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul 624622, Tamil Nadu, India ' School of Electronics Engineering, VIT University Chennai, Chennai 600127, Tamil Nadu, India ' School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT University Vellore, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Objective of the present study was to determine whether cardiovascular measures and task performance differ in listening to pleasant and unpleasant music. Ten healthy adults participated in this study. Cardiovascular measures like heart rate, respiratory rate, mean arterial pressure and oxygen saturation of the participants were measured during silence and listening to pleasant and unpleasant music either with or without task performance. The task performance were determined by calculating the errors of commission and omission for Go and No-Go trials. The heart rate, respiratory rate and mean arterial pressure were significantly (p<0.05) higher while listening to unpleasant music when compared to pleasant music. The error of omission was significantly (p=0.008) high for unpleasant music with task performance. The error of commission was found to be significantly (p<0.05) high for unpleasant music with task performance as compared to listening pleasant music and silence. Performance on the task was better following the pleasant music than the silence. The result showed that listening to unpleasant music increased the cardiovascular measures resulting in the reduction in task performance. The individuals who listened to pleasant music have improved some aspects of task performance than performing task in control condition.

Keywords: pleasant music; unpleasant music; task performance; cardiovascular measures; mental tasks; heart rate; respiratory rate; mean arterial pressure; oxygen saturation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2016.077179

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2016 Vol.21 No.2, pp.128 - 144

Received: 16 Jun 2015
Accepted: 19 Oct 2015
Published online: 22 Jun 2016 *

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