Effectiveness of different music-playing devices for reducing preoperative anxiety: a clinical control study.

BACKGROUND While waiting for surgery, patients often exhibit fear and anxiety. Music is thought to be an alternative to medication to relieve anxiety. However, due to concerns about infection control, devices other than headphones may be considered for this purpose. OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine the anxiety-relieving effect of broadcast versus headphone music playing for patients awaiting surgery. DESIGN A randomized controlled clinical study. SETTING The waiting area of an operating theater of a metropolitan teach hospital in Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS Alert adult with age between 20 and 65 years old waiting for surgery without premedications. METHODS A total of 167 patients were randomly assigned to the headphone, broadcast and control groups. Both the headphone and the broadcast groups were provided with the same instrumental music, while the control group did not listen to any music. The tools for measuring anxiety were visual analogue scale (VAS) ranging from "not anxious at all" to "extremely anxious" and heart rate variability (HRV). RESULTS The VAS score exhibited a significant decrease for both the headphone and broadcast groups. The low frequency and low-to-high frequency LF/HF ratio of the broadcast and headphone groups were significantly lower than those of the control group. None of the heart rate variables showed significant differences between the broadcast group and the headphone group. CONCLUSION Both headphone and broadcast music are effective for reducing the preoperative patient's anxiety in the waiting room. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE In order to take infection control into account, broadcast speakers can substitute for headphones for playing music to lower the anxiety level of patients waiting for surgery.