Stress is a major problem as it can have a negative impact on both physical and mental health. Music therapy is an innovative way to both prevent stress and improve stress management. The monochord, a stringed instrument with a warm sound rich in overtones, is often used for this purpose in music therapy. The effect of monochord sounds on the stress regulation of healthy adults in a music therapy setting is being investigated in a research project.
Stress is a major problem as it can have a negative impact on both physical and mental health (WHO, 2019). Music therapy, a psychotherapeutically oriented treatment method, is considered an innovative way of preventing stress and improving stress management skills. Listening to music that can be characterized as calm, flowing, and with few changes in pitch and dynamics or rhythm is particularly suitable. The most commonly used instrument for such an application is the monochord, which produces a uniform but warm, soft and overtone-rich sound (Sigrist, 2016; Gäbel, Garrido, König, Hillecke, & Warth, 2017; Gäbel, Hillecke, & Warth, 2019). The project presented here is an investigation into the effect of monochord sounds on stress regulation.
Study Objectives
The study focuses on the fundamental interest in whether and how monochord sounds influence stress regulation in a music therapy setting:
The main objective is to investigate the therapeutic effect of live versus recorded monochord sounds in relation to stress regulation. In addition, findings on the connection between sound design and physiological parameters as well as the therapist-subject relationship dynamics will be sought.
The focus of the study is on healthy adults. In a later stage, clinical research on people with stress-related illnesses will be conducted.
Research questions
The following main questions will be investigated:
1: How does the effect of live versus recorded monochord sounds on the autonomic nervous system (heart rate variability HRV, respiratory rhythm, electrodermal activity EDA) differ in relation to stress regulation in healthy adults aged 25 to 34 years?
2: How does the effect of live versus recorded monochord sounds differ in relation to the subjectively perceived relaxation of healthy adults aged 25 to 34 years?
Furthermore, these exploratory questions will also be investigated:
3: How do the dynamics of the audio signals (tempo and volume) correlate with the biosignals (HRV, respiratory rhythm and EDA), which are recorded to determine the relaxation response, during the last 5 minutes of the monochord sounds played live (intervention condition) compared to the last 5 minutes of the recorded monochord sounds (control condition)?
3a: What are the effects of the live resonance-guided versus recorded monochord sounds on the autonomic nervous system of the therapist and the technical assistant?
3b: How do the physiological values correlate between the therapist and the subject?
Design
This is a two-arm randomized controlled crossover study, i.e., the subjects receive one session in each of the two conditions in a random order.
Arm 1: Intervention condition
Therapist plays monochord live for the subject
Arm 2: Control condition
Therapist plays recorded Monochord sounds for the subject
A mixed-methods design is used in which pre-, peri- and post-measurements are taken. The measurement instruments are the same for both arms:
- Physiological parameters: HRV, respiration, EDA
- Psychological parameters: subjective statements using scales, questionnaires, interviews
- Musical & body language parameters: audio & video recording of the sessions
Ethics application
The study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Canton of Zurich.