• Peter R Chai, Jasmine Y Gale, Megan E Patton, Emily Schwartz, Guruprasad D Jambaulikar, S Wade Taylor, Robert R Edwards, Edward W Boyer, and Kristin L Schreiber.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital.
• Pain Med. 2020 Nov 1; 21 (11): 304730543047-3054.

ObjectiveMusic has been shown to modulate pain, although the impact of music on specific aspects of nociceptive processing is less well understood. Using quantitative sensory testing (QST), we assessed the impact of a novel music app on specific aspects of nociceptive processing.DesignWithin-subjects paired comparison of pain processing in control vs music condition.SettingHuman psychophysical laboratory.SubjectsSixty healthy adult volunteers.MethodsSubjects were assessed for baseline anxiety, depression, and catastrophizing using validated questionnaires. QSTs measured included 1) pain threshold and tolerance to deep muscle pressure, 2) pain with mechanical pinprick, 3) temporal summation of pain (TSP) with a repeated pain stimulus, and 4) conditioned pain modulation (CPM) with a second painful stimulus. QSTs were performed in the absence and presence of music delivered through a music app.ResultsWe found an increase in pressure pain thresholds in both the forearm (P = 0.007) and trapezius (P = 0.002) with music, as well as a decrease in the amount of pinprick pain (P < 0.001) and TSP (P = 0.01) with music. Interestingly, CPM was also significantly diminished (P < 0.001) in the music condition. No significant difference in cold pain, anxiety, or situational catastrophizing was observed with music. Higher baseline pain catastrophizing scores were associated with less music-induced pressure pain reduction.ConclusionsSeveral measures of mechanical pain sensitivity were reduced with music. TSP, a measure of central sensitization, also decreased with music, but CPM, a measure of descending modulation of pain, was not further augmented by music.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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