The sound of silence is music to the heart

Peter D Larsen ^1* and Duncan C Galletly ¹

¹ Wellington School of Medicine, New Zealand

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: peter.larsen{at}wnmeds.ac.nz.

Accepted 6 November 2005

Abstract

In 1918 Hyde and Scalapino described the effects of different types of music on heart rate and blood pressure. They commented, "the minor tones of music increased the pulse rate... and lowered the systolic and diastolic pressures. On the other hand the stirring notes of Toreador's song... increased the systolic and pulse pressure... [and] increased the pulse rate".[1] In 1920 Diserens noted that music also had an effect on respiratory timing: "in general respiratory rhythm follows that of the music".[2] Since then, numerous studies have documented the effects of different types of music on heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory frequency.[3,4] In this edition of the Journal, Bernardi et al. suggest, in contrast to Hyde and Scalapino, that it is not the key in which the music is set, but the underlying tempo that is important in determining the physiological response.[5]

Keywords: entrainment, heart rate, music, respiratory control

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