ArticleLiterature Review

The effects of music on animal physiology, behavior and welfare

January 2013
Lab Animal 42(2):54-61

Source
PubMed

Authors:

University of Georgia

Physiological and psychological effects of listening to music have been documented in humans. The changes in physiology, cognition and brain chemistry and morphology induced by music have been studied in animal models, providing evidence that music may affect animals similarly to humans. Information about the potential benefits of music to animals suggests that providing music may be used as a means of improving the welfare of laboratory animals, such as through environmental enrichment, stress relief and behavioral modification. The authors review the current research on music's effect on animals' physiology and behavior and discuss its potential for improving animal welfare. They conclude that the benefits of providing music to laboratory animals depend on the species and the type of music.

The Impact of Relaxation Music (Weightless by Marconi Union) on Production Performance, Welfare, and Hematological and Biochemical Blood Parameters in Broiler Chickens

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2024

The study evaluated the impact of relaxation music on the production performance, welfare, and blood parameters of broiler chickens. Literature indicates that specific music genres, as environmental enrichment, can improve animal welfare and production outcomes. The research involved 1,200 Ross 308 chickens divided into control (C) and experimental (M) groups. The rearing period lasted 42 days, and was conducted according to the flock management guide (Aviagen, 2019). The M group was exposed to relaxation music (Weightless by Marconi Union), played for two hours daily (08:00–10:00) and for 30 minutes before slaughter, at 70 dB. Body weight, feed consumption (FCR), mortality, and rearing conditions (litter pH, harmful gases) were monitored. On day 35, excreta samples were collected to analyze cortisol concentrations and assess welfare. Blood was also collected at slaughter for analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (PS IMGO PRO 8.0). Significantly higher final body weights and lower FCRs were observed in the M group chickens (p ≤ 0.05). Enriching the chickens' environment with relaxation music also resulted in lower cortisol concentrations in excreta samples and improved welfare levels (p ≤ 0.01). Blood analysis of the M group showed a significant increase in the average number of red blood cells and the calcium content, while glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) concentrations were lower (p ≤ 0.01). The hematocrit percentage, total protein, and uric acid concentrations were significantly lower in the M group compared to the C group (p ≤ 0.05). Litter pH monitoring showed significantly lower pH values for the M group on days 22 and 35 (p ≤ 0.01 and p ≤ 0.05, respectively). However, on day 10, litter pH was lower for the C group chickens (p ≤ 0.05). No significant differences were found for the other results. Relaxation music can serve as environmental enrichment for broiler chickens, potentially improving their production performance and welfare quality. However, further research is necessary to verify the mechanism behind these effects.

The Impact of Music on Milk Production and Behaviour of Dairy Cattle

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2023

The influence of music on the milk performance of dairy cattle has been increasingly studied in recent years, although its efficacy is still being debated due to the inconsistent outcomes and a limited number of studies. This study aimed to investigate the impact of music on the milk production and behaviour of 24 lactating Jersey cattle, consisting of 10 primiparous and 14 multiparous cows. The experiment involved milk collection and behavioural observation before and after exposure to music at a dairy farm in Sitiawan, Perak. The results indicate that music and parity significantly affect the milk yield produced by a cow at p < 0.05. The cows produced significantly less milk after being exposed to music, while multiparous cows recorded significantly higher milk yields than primiparous cows. In terms of the observed behaviour, the cows displayed a significantly higher proportion of feeding and ruminating when no music was played. On the other hand, multiparous cows displayed a significantly lower proportion of feeding and ruminating, and a higher proportion of standing compared to primiparous cows. However, no significant effects of parity and music were observed in walking and lying behaviour. To conclude, music did not improve the milk yield of Jersey dairy cows in this study. Due to the inconsistencies in the outcomes of many studies related to the effect of music on milk yield, more long-term research should be conducted by considering factors that might influence milk yields, such as parity, breed, housing environment, and music selection.

Music for animal welfare: A critical review & conceptual framework

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2022
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

Music can have powerful effects on human health and wellbeing. These findings have inspired an emerging field of research that focuses on the potential of music for animal welfare, with most studies investigating whether music can enhance overall wellbeing. However, this sole focus on discovering what effects music have on animals is insufficient for advancing scientific and practical understanding of how music can be used as an enrichment tool and can also lead to problems in experimental design and interpretation. This paper argues for a different approach to the study of music for welfare, where music is used to address specific welfare goals, taking account what animals hear in music and selecting or creating ‘musical’ compositions that test current hypotheses about how music is able to influence animal behaviour and physiology. Within this conceptual framework, we outline the process through which perceptual abilities influence welfare outcomes and suggest reframing music for welfare research as Auditory Enrichment Research which adopts a targeted approach that does not purpose music as an all-round welfare enhancer but rather investigates whether auditory enrichment can ameliorate specific welfare problems based on species-specific perceptual abilities, needs, and welfare goals. Ultimately, we hope that these discussions will help to bring greater unification, vision, and directionality in the field.

The Effect of Short-term Classical Music stimulus on Behavior and Tonic Immobility Reaction of Pullets

Article

Oct 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of short-term stimulation of classical music on the behavior of pullets and to explore whether classical music as an auditory enrichment factor reduces the fear level in pullets. One hundred and twenty 10-weeks’old Roman white pullets were randomly divided into two treatments of which one group was exposed to classic music (M), and another one was the control group (N). The music was played during 8:00–18:00 every day for 7 consecutive days. The behavior of the focal animals was observed from 11:00 to13:00 every day for 7 days. The results showed that during the observation period, the pullets in group M had more comforting (P < .05) and preening (P < .05), but less aggressive (P < .01) and feather-pecking (P < .01) behaviors than those in group N. No significant difference was found in other behaviors and the duration of tonic immobility between the two groups. Therefore, auditory enrichment as a means of environmental enrichment can increase the welfare level of pullets to a certain extent.

Effects of Different Auditory Environments on Behavior, Learning Ability, and Fearfulness in 4-Week-Old Laying Hen Chicks

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2023

Simple Summary Environmental enrichment to improve animal welfare has been receiving growing attention. The effect of auditory stimulation as a method of environmental enrichment is unclear for the behavior and welfare of chicks. In this study, one-day-of-age chicks were exposed to different auditory environments. The behavior, learning ability, and fearfulness of the chicks were examined to explore the effect of different auditory environments on the behavior and welfare of chicks. The findings confirmed that music stimulation of 65–75 dB had positive effects in reducing fearfulness, and music and noise of 85–95 dB reduce the expression of comforting and preening in chicks, impairing their learning ability, and increasing the level of fearfulness. Abstract Environmental enrichment can improve animal welfare. As a method of environmental enrichment, the effect of different auditory stimulations on the behavior response and welfare of laying hen chicks has yet to be investigated. Therefore, this study was aimed at exploring the impact of various auditory exposures on the behavior, learning ability, and fear response of 4-week-old laying hen chicks. A total of 600 1-day-old chicks were randomly assigned to five different groups: C (control group), LM (Mozart’s String Quartets, 65 to 75 dB), LN (recorded ventilation fans and machinery, 65 to 75 dB), HN (recorded ventilation fans and machinery, 85 to 95 dB), and HM (Mozart’s String Quartets, 85 to 95 dB). The experiment was conducted from day 1 until the end of the experiment on day 28. Groups LM and LN were exposed to music and noise stimulation ranging from 65 to 75 dB. Groups HN and HM, meanwhile, received noise and music stimulation ranging from 85 to 95 dB. The control group (C) did not receive any additional auditory stimuli. During the experimental period, continuous behavioral recordings were made of each group of chicks from day 22 to day 28. On day 21, the PAL (one-trial passive avoidance learning) task was conducted. On days 23 and 24, OF (open field) and TI (tonic immobility) tests were performed, and the levels of serum CORT (corticosterone) and DA (dopamine) were measured. The results indicated that exposure to music and noise at intensities ranging from 85 to 95 dB could reduce comforting, preening, PAL avoidance rate, the total number of steps and grid crossings of OF, and the concentration of DA in 4 WOA chicks (p < 0.05), increase the freezing times of OF (p < 0.05); 65 to 75 dB of noise stimulation could reduce preening and total number steps of OF in 4 WOA chicks (p < 0.05), increase the freezing times of OF (p < 0.05); and 65 to 75 dB of music exposure could reduce the concentration of CORT in 4 WOA chicks (p < 0.05). Therefore, 65 to 75 dB of music exposure could produce positive effects on chicks and showed relatively low CORT level, whereas 85 to 95 dB of music and noise exposure could reduce comforting and preening behavior, impair learning ability, and increase the fear responses of chicks.

Effects of Auditory Enrichment on Welfare and Performance of Sows During Pregnancy and Farrowing/lactation Periods

Article

May 2023
J APPL ANIM WELF SCI

This study is an observational study that aimed to evaluate whether exposure to music in the final third of sows' gestation and during farrowing/ lactation would change behavior, reduce stress, and improve reproductive rates. Forty-eight sows were used at 90 days of gestation until the weaning of their piglets. During gestation, sows were divided into two treatments: control and with music enrichment. In farrowing/lactation, sows were divided into four treatments: control-control (without music); control-music (music during farrowing/lactation); music-control (music during pregnancy); music-music (music in both phases). Sows' behavior, eye temperature, and reproductive performance were evaluated. In the gestation phase, control group sows remained standing more times and had more negative interactions with the other sows in the pen. In the farrowing/ lactating phase, sows exposed to music presented more nursing behaviors. The number of weaned piglets was higher in litters in which the sows had environmental enrichment in at least one of the phases of reproductive lives. Music may be used as environmental enrichment for sows in their reproductive phases due to beneficial responses in behavior, stress relief, and reproductive rates.

Effects of Music Therapy on Neuroplasticity, Welfare, and Performance of Piglets Exposed to Music Therapy in the Intra- and Extra-Uterine Phases

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2022

Simple Summary Environmental enrichment using music therapy can be used to improve animal welfare. Music, as an enrichment of the environment, is presented as an easy and viable way to remove the sterility of the breeding environment and make it more interesting and attractive. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of auditory environmental enrichment in the pre- and postpartum period of sows on the behavior, performance, and neuro-plasticity of their piglets. Exposure to music in the last 1/3 of pregnancy and farrowing/lactation improved the weight of piglets at birth and weaning. Musical enrichment during pregnancy and lactation was able to cause changes in the piglets’ neuroplasticity and improve their productive performances. Abstract The rearing environment of pigs can cause a high level of stress due to the lack of stimuli and the impossibility of carrying out natural behaviors. Music therapy is a way to enrich the environment and promote stress relief. Few studies in swine using environmental enrichers focus on functional benefits, such as stress resilience, improved biological functions, or mental status. The effect of environmental enrichment on neurobiological processes is particularly poorly understood in farm animals. Thus, our study sought to elucidate the influence of music in piglets exposed to music therapy in the intrauterine and extrauterine phase on neuroplasticity, evaluating the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Behavioural responses were also evaluated using fear tests related to stress resilience. The productive performance of these piglets was analysed to relate the possible reduction in stress levels to greater productivity gains. Forty-eight sows were used at 90 days of gestation until the weaning of their piglets. In the gestation phase, the sows were divided into two treatments: control (without music therapy) and music (with music therapy). In the farrowing/lactation phase, the sows were separated into four treatments: control-control (no music in any phase); control-music (music only in farrowing/lactation); music-control (music only during pregnancy); and music-music (music in both reproductive phases). Music therapy did not cause a difference in the BDNF levels of piglets at birth. However, piglets born from sows of the music-music treatment did not show a reduction in BDNF between birth and weaning, unlike the other treatments. Exposure to music in the last 1/3 of pregnancy and farrowing/lactation improved the weight of piglets at birth and at weaning. Musical enrichment during pregnancy and lactation was able to cause changes in the piglets’ neuroplasticity and improve their productive performances.

Does Environmental Enrichment with Music and Strobe Light Affect Broilers’ Welfare? Analyzing Their On-Farm Reaction

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2022

The present study observed whether environmental enrichment (music and strobe light) influenced farm-housed broiler chickens’ behavior. The trial was carried out on a commercial broiler farm from 21 to 35 days of growth. The sound stimulus consisted of playing a classical music track every day for an approximate length of 6 min, played five times a day for six weeks starting from the birds’ first day of age. The light stimuli came from a colored (red and green ground-projected dots) light-emitting diode (LED) strobe projector used after the musical stimulation. The broilers’ reaction was recorded (from day 21 through day 35), and individual bird behaviors were classified into welfare and stress. The birds’ ability to walk was measured using a gait score scale, and the degree of incidence of pododermatitis was verified. Environmental enrichment with light stimulus increased natural behavior in broiler chickens, such as eating, stretching, ground pecking, and flapping wings (p < 0.05). Broiler chickens tended to walk less in the housing with music stimuli (p < 0.05). In general, the environmental stimuli provided the birds with better walking ability but increased the incidence of pododermatitis (p < 0.01). We observed that the light stimulus left the birds more active; they foraged more and lay less when compared to the birds submitted to musical stimuli and the control. However, we also observed an increase in the frequency of stress-indicating behaviors in the environment under light stimulation. It is unclear whether broilers liked the tested stimuli of music and light in the scenarios studied. The enrichment with light or music apparently increased flock stress in 21- and 28-day-old broilers, with some benefit being observed only in 35-day-old broilers.

Playing music to animals: an interdisciplinary approach to improving our understanding of animals' responses to music

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2025

Humans have profoundly changed the global soundscape. Studying how nonhuman animals respond to music can contribute to a better understanding of the effect of sound on animals. Animals are frequently exposed to human music, whether intentionally (for example, in laboratory settings), or unintentionally (for example, when animals live in close proximity to humans). Although several papers examine animals' responses to music, these typically do so from a purely animal behavioural perspective, sometimes missing relevant details about salient features of the music being played. An interdisciplinary approach that places musical and scientific knowledge on equal footing can improve our understanding of how animals respond to music and music-like sounds, in new and exciting ways. Here, we show with a systematic review that crucial factors (intrinsic music properties, listener properties, playback context and producer properties and contexts; ILPP) are not being adequately considered or reported in recently published scientific articles on the effects of music on animals, which hinders scientific reproducibility within this area of study. These problems are caused by improper referencing of music sources, misunderstanding of music and unexamined assumptions about individual variation and preferences between individuals of the same or different species. We then suggest that Berlyne’s psychobiological theory might provide a useful framework for studying how animals respond to human-generated sounds.

Evaluation of the Effects of Musical Styles and Speed on the Anxiety Levels of Stress-Induced Mice (Mus musculus)

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2019

Music has anecdotally been used to affect mental conditions in humans, and literature suggests that they affect animal physiology and biochemistry similarly to humans. This study subjected mice to selected musical compositions in three genres to test their effects on anxiety levels. Researchers exposed three groups of three mice to classical, pop, and hard rock music with one control group to determine the effect of music on the anxiety level of mice. After a 5-day conditioning period for all groups, researchers subjected each mouse to a stress tube model for 10 minutes. Each mouse was then exposed to one musical genre and tested on an elevated plus-maze. Anxiety was measured in frequency of open arm entry and percent duration in open arms. Results showed that exposure to classical music led to the most significant decrease in anxiety levels and hard rock music to the most significant increase. Pop music did not affect anxiety in mice compared to a control. After examining the difference between classical and hard rock music, researchers identified that multiple contrasting tempos affected performance in the elevated plus maze. The tempo of the classical music piece was altered to double and quadruple its original tempo, and results showed that faster tempos increased anxiety levels and created the gap between classical and hard rock music. Future studies should explore pulsation and rhythmic pattern variances that may contribute to the phenomenon.

Empowering Animals Through Technology: Enhancing Animal Agency in the Sound Environment

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Dec 2024

Enriquecimiento ambiental con música durante el ordeño: efecto sobre la producción, calidad de la leche y comportamiento de la vaca

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2024

La investigación fue realizada en la granja experimental de Nero de la Universidad de Cuenca. El objetivo de la investigación fue evaluar el efecto de dos géneros musicales sobre la producción, calidad de leche y la conducta animal durante el proceso de ordeño. Para esto se evaluaron 33 vacas Holstein multíparas durante cinco semanas consecutivas, que se encontraban dentro del primer tercio de su producción láctea. Las variables analizadas fueron la producción de leche diaria (Lts/día), calidad de leche (grasa, solidos no grasos, proteína y recuento de células somáticas) y se valoró la conducta animal mediante un etograma (movimiento de la cabeza, orejas, cola, extremidades posteriores, mugidos, micción y defecación). La primera semana fue considerada como el tratamiento testigo, la segunda como de ambientación al género musical clásico, en la tercera se valoró este género, en la cuarta semana se procedió a realizar ambientación del género musical electrónico y en la quinta semana se tomó las valoraciones del mismo. La implementación de música durante el ordeño no influyó sobre la producción láctea de 13,6±0,66 Lts/día (1era semana), 14,1±0,53 Lts/día (3ra semana) y 5ta semana 15,4±0,87 Lts/día. Igual sucedió con el porcentaje de grasa, solidos no grasos y proteína; sin embargo, los animales al ser expuestos a los dos géneros musicales disminuyeron sustancialmente el número de células somáticas (P<0,05); además, se mostraron más tranquilas ya que realizaron menos movimientos de cabeza, cola, extremidades posteriores, mugidos, defecaciones y micciones (P<0,01). Se concluye que ambientar la sala de ordeño con música permite que los animales mejoren su conducta, lo cual se refleja en una mayor calidad de la leche.

Effects of a veterinary functional music-based enrichment program on the psychophysiological responses of farm pigs

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2024

Intensification of swine production can predispose pigs to chronic stress, with adverse effects on the neuroendocrine and immune systems that can lead to health problems, poor welfare, and reduced production performance. Consequently, there is an interest in developing tools to prevent or eliminate chronic stress. Music is widely used as a therapeutic strategy for stress management in humans and may have similar benefits in non-human animals. This study evaluated the effects of a music-based auditory enrichment program in pigs from a multidimensional perspective by assessing psychophysiological responses. Two experimental groups of 20 pigs each were selected for the study: one enriched, exposed to a program of functional veterinary music designed for pigs, and a control group without auditory stimulation. Qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) and skin lesions indicative of agonistic behavior were used to evaluate the psychological determinants underlying the observed behaviors. Physiological assessment included hemograms, with the determination of the neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio and daily measurements of cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase levels. The results demonstrated a positive effect of a music-based auditory program on psychophysiological responses. Therefore, this strategy developed for environmental enrichment may be beneficial in reducing stress and contributing to the welfare and health of pigs under production conditions.

Prolonged exposure to a music-enriched environment mitigates acute noise-induced inflammation and apoptosis in the chicken spleen by modulating the Keap-1/Nrf2 and NF-κB pathways

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2024
POULTRY SCI

The rise of operational noise as an environmental pollutant for farm animals is an emerging concern. The mechanisms through which music can alleviate oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis induced by noise exposure remain underexplored. This study aims to investigate the alleviating effects and underlying mechanisms of long-term music exposure on noise-induced damage to the chicken spleen. Male Arbor Acres (AA) broilers were divided into four groups: control (C), acute noise stimulation (NS), noise stimulation with music mitigation (NSM), and music only (M). NS and NSM groups were exposed to noise (simulating sudden intensity noise, 115 to 120dB) for 10 minutes daily for a week, starting at 14-days-old. NSM and M groups then received 28 days of 6-hour daily music (Mozart K.448, 60–65 dB). The results showed that noise stimulation significantly activated the Keap-1/Nrf2 and NF-κB signaling pathways. Long-term music intervention has also been demonstrated to successfully mitigate oxidative stress and abnormal apoptosis induced by acute noise stimulation. Microscopic examination of the spleen revealed that acute noise stimulation resulted in an increase in splenic cells, a decrease in lymphocytes, and blurred boundaries between the red and white pulps in the NS group. However, these pathological changes were alleviated in the NSM group following music intervention. Compared with the control group, the NS group exhibited significantly elevated oxidative stress parameters. In contrast, music intervention in the NSM group notably improved antioxidant capacity and partially alleviated morphological abnormalities in the spleen. Additionally, noise stimulation activated the NF-κB pathway, upregulating the downstream genes of the inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. Noise-induced mitochondrial damage led to apoptosis, as observed by TUNEL staining, along with increased gene and protein expression of Bcl-2, Bax, Cyt-C, Casp-3, Casp-8, and Casp-9. These findings indicate that acute noise exposure can induce splenic damage via oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis by modulating the Keap-1/Nrf2 and NF-κB pathways. Prolonged music stimulation effectively mitigates noise-induced damage, offering a vital experimental foundation for further research on noise pollution's impact on organisms and music's alleviating role.

Research Note: Effects of environmental sound stimulus on behavioral responses, cortisol levels, and horizontal immunity of transferred pullets

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2024
POULTRY SCI

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of prolonged exposure to varying levels of music or noise on the behavioral, physiological, and immune responses of pullets following their transfer to an egg-laying facility. A total of 240 one-day-old Hy-Line Brown pullets were randomly assigned to five groups: 0 dB sound stimulation, low-decibel music (65–75 dB), high-decibel music (85–95 dB), low-decibel noise (65–75 dB), and high-decibel noise (85–95 dB) stimuli. Pullets received music or noise stimuli 10 h per d from 1-day-old to 16-wk-old and were then transferred to the egg-laying facility. The results indicated that feeding and drinking behaviors significantly decreased (P < 0.05), whereas feather pecking, aggression, and preening behaviors significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the pullets after transfer. Pullets also had higher serum cortisol (COR) levels (P < 0.05), whereas immunoglobulin Y (IgY), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (INF-γ), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels significantly increased (P < 0.05). Low-decibel sound stimuli increased aggressive behavior and decreased pecking behavior (P < 0.05). High-decibel sound stimuli decreased feather pecking, cage pecking, aggression, and sham dustbathing behaviors (P < 0.05). In addition, a low-decibel sound stimulus decreased the serum COR content, and increased the serum IL-6 level in the transferred pullets. A high-decibel sound stimulus also induced shorter tonic immobility (TI) durations in pullets on d 7 after transport stress. Meanwhile, high-decibel sound stimulus decreased the serum IL-6 and TNF-α levels of pullets. In conclusion, the transfer has detrimental effects on the pullets. Long-term sound stimulation effectively mitigated the negative impact of transportation stress on pullets. Among them, the high-decibel sound stimulus showed more promise in relieving transport stress.

Music and Tactile Stimuli during Daily Milking Affect the Welfare and Productivity of Dairy Cows

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2023

Simple Summary Animal health and well-being have become essential criteria for the acceptability of animal-derived products. In dairy cow production, environmental enrichment has become a significant advancement in providing a higher quality of life for these animals, enabling them to cope with the stressful challenges of daily management, as this is one of the production lines that require greater human–animal interaction. Using music and tactile stimuli separately or in combination before the milking period, we discovered that when stimuli are provided, there is a real change in the productivity of the animals. This is supported by data on residual milk quantity and dripping. Additionally, there was an improvement in their quality of life due to an increased level of serotonin, a neurotransmitter responsible for providing a sense of well-being and reducing reactive responses during daily management. The two alternatives for environmental enrichment addressed in this study have shown promise and can be easily incorporated into animal production due to their low installation and maintenance costs. However, more pronounced effects seem to come from the use of music, which also has the advantage of not posing any risk to the animal’s health or milk quality. Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of tactile stimuli and music during daily milking on the productive, physiological, well-being, and health parameters of dairy cows. The experiment, which lasted 39 days, was conducted on a commercial farm with forty crossbred cows (age: 36 to 42 months; weight: 350 to 400 kg) distributed in a completely randomized design (2 × 2) via the following treatments: (Con)—cows not exposed to stimuli, (Tac)—cows exposed to tactile stimuli before milking, (Mus)—cows exposed to music during milking, (Tac+Mus)—cows exposed to both stimuli. In this study, classical music with a slow (75 to 107 BPM) and moderate tempo (90 to 100 BPM) was played, and tactile stimuli was provided manually using a flexible stick in the posterior region and udders of the cows. Cows not exposed to any of the stimuli had up to 41% higher residual milk quantity compared to those exposed to one of or both of the stimuli. The sound stimulus promoted an increase in milk letdown before the start of milking. Cows exposed to stimuli showed higher serotonin levels, indicating a beneficial effect on animal well-being. However, cows exposed to pre-milking tactile stimuli showed an increase in somatic cell count. Combining both techniques may have positive effects on milk productivity and well-being. However, using music alone may be more recommendable as it does not pose health risks.

Effect of classical music on growth performance, stress level, antioxidant index, immune function and meat quality in broilers at different stocking densities

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2023

High-stocking density is one of the factors that can easily cause oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction of broilers. Currently, music therapy has been proposed to help animals relieve stress to some extent. However, it is still unclear whether classical music can alleviate stress in broilers at high stocking densities. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the effects of classical music on growth performance, stress level, antioxidant index, immune function and meat quality of broilers under different stocking densities. A total of 540 one-day-old broilers with similar body weight were randomly divided into 6 treatment groups, with 6 replicates per group, which included two feeding environments (with/without classical music) and three stocking densities (15.5, 17.9, and 20.3 birds/m²), thereby making a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement. The results showed as follows: increasing stocking density decreased the average daily feed intake and average daily gain (ADG), increased feed-to-gain ratio (F/G) and mortality of broilers. Moreover, increased density resulted in an increase in serum corticosterone (CORT) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels. Increasing stocking density decreased spleen and bursal indices, serum immunoglobulin A (IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), and immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels. Increasing stocking density elevated serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and decreased catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activities. Increasing stocking density decreased serum total protein (TP) levels and increased total cholesterol (TC) and glucose (GLU) levels. Additionally, increasing stocking density decreased the cooking liss of pectoralis and increased the L*24h value of pectoralis. Meanwhile, playing classical music for broilers increased their ADG and decreased F/G, and decreased serum CORT, ACTH, GLU content. In addition, the bursa of Fabricius index, serum IgA and IgG contents as well as the a*24h value of pectoralis was increased under the music therapy. In conclusion, high-stocking density (20.3 birds/m²) harmed the growth performance and health of broilers, and the classical music stimulus ameliorated the negative effects to some extent.

The (Co)Evolution of Language and Music Under Human Self-Domestication

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2023
HUM NATURE-INT BIOS

Together with language, music is perhaps the most distinctive behavioral trait of the human species. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in our species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the self-domestication view of human evolution, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process similar to domestication in other mammals, triggered by the reduction in reactive aggression responses to environmental changes. We specifically argue that self-domestication can account for some of the cognitive changes, and particularly for the behaviors conducive to the complexification of music through a cultural mechanism. We hypothesize four stages in the evolution of music under self-domestication forces: (1) collective protomusic; (2) private, timbre-oriented music; (3) small-group, pitch-oriented music; and (4) collective, tonally organized music. This line of development encompasses the worldwide diversity of music types and genres and parallels what has been hypothesized for languages. Overall, music diversity might have emerged in a gradual fashion under the effects of the enhanced cultural niche construction as shaped by the progressive decrease in reactive (i.e., impulsive, triggered by fear or anger) aggression and the increase in proactive (i.e., premeditated, goal-directed) aggression.

Performance and Welfare of Sows Exposed to Auditory Environmental Enrichment in Mixed or Collective Housing Systems

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2023

Simple Summary Auditory environmental enrichment may be used to relieve animal stress and has been reported to have positive behavioral effects in pigs, considering it aims to improve restrictive living conditions associated with intensive production systems. This research aimed to assess the effects of auditory environmental enrichment on sows in mixed housing (caged until 35 days after insemination and then collective pens) or collective housing (caged until 72 h after insemination and then collective pens). The collective reproductive management did not demonstrate losses in the productive performance of swine, which may be an interesting management alternative as it reduces the time spent in individual facilities, improving the welfare of sows. These findings may be used to confront conservative protocols that indicate log periods in individual facilities to prevent gestational loses. The auditory environment enrichment also had positive influences on sows’ welfare, which was reflected in the performance of piglets; calm sows had heavier weaned litters, which may be considered another interesting finding for swine production. Abstract The research aimed to assess the effects of auditory environmental enrichment on sows in mixed housing (caged until 35 days after insemination and then collective pens) or collective housing (caged until 72 h after insemination and then collective pens). Reproductive performance, body surface and eye temperature (ET) were evaluated as sows’ welfare indicators. A sample of 56 sows between 2nd and 6th parity was submitted to the treatments from artificial insemination to weaning. The sows were assigned in a randomized block design with a 2 × 2 factorial scheme of treatments: mixed housing—control (MH-C), collective housing—control (CH-C), mixed housing—music (MH-M) and collective housing—music (CH-M). Auditory enrichment consisted of exposing sows daily throughout gestation and lactation to 6 h of classical music divided into 2 h periods. The ET of pregnant sows in collective housing was lower than that of sows in mixed housing (33.77 °C vs. 34.91 °C). Pregnant and lactating sows exposed to auditory environmental enrichment exhibited lower ET compared to those that had no access to the stimulus (pregnant 33.36 °C vs. 34.32 °C and lactating 34.21 °C vs. 34.83 °C). No housing type effect was found on the reproductive performance parameter; however, piglets from sows submitted to auditory environmental enrichment, regardless of the type of housing during gestation, were heavier at weaning (6.32 kg vs. 5.57 kg). Collective or mixed housing does not affect sows’ reproductive performance; perhaps, auditory environmental enrichment reduced stress in the gestation and lactation phases and provided greater piglet weight gain at weaning.

Beneficial effects of instrumental music on the production performance of Xiandao green-shell layers housed under different stocking densities

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2023

Context Egg production rate (EPR) is the main criteria for egg producers and egg quality is important for consumers. Exposed to music, layers kept at appropriate stocking density could display optimal production performance without compromising egg quality. Aims This study aimed to investigate the possibility of employing instrumental music stimulus and regulating stocking density to maximise egg production performance and improve egg quality in Xiandao green-shell layers. Methods In total, 378 30-week-old layers were randomly distributed into nine treatments across three types of sound sources (natural sound, instrumental music, or mixed road noise) × three different stocking densities (4, 7 and 10 birds/cage corresponding to low, medium, and high density respectively), with six replicates per treatment. The 24-day experimental period was equally divided into four phases. EPR, average egg weight, and serum IgG concentration were determined at the end of each phase. Egg quality and organ indices were determined at the end of experiment. Results Hens exposed to music had a significantly higher EPR and laid eggs of better quality than did hens subjected to mixed road noise. Across all parameters, hens exposed to music did not significantly differ from hens exposed to natural sound. Stocking density had significant impacts on EPR, relative eggshell weight, and serum IgG concentration, with hens kept at high stocking density (357 cm²/hen) exhibiting the lowest values. Hens kept at medium density (510 cm²/hen) and low density (892 cm²/hen) showed no significant differences in tested parameters except that the former produced eggs with a significantly higher relative eggshell weight. Significant interactions between sound and density were observed in EPR, relative yolk weight, and spleen index, with hens exposed to music and kept at low density displaying the highest values. Conclusions Music and low stocking density had favourable effects on improving egg production and egg quality, while road noise and high stocking density exerted negative influences on them. Implications Xiandao green-shell layers are recommended to be kept at medium density to maximise the production benefits. The integration of music playback into management practices will not compromise layers’ production potential displayed under natural sound exposure.

The Natural History of Musical Rhythm: Functional and Mechanistic Theories on the Evolution of Human Rhythm Cognition and the Relevance of Rhythmic Animal Behaviors

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2022

There has recently been a growing interest in investigating rhythm cognition and behavior in nonhuman animals as a way of tracking the evolutionary origins of human musicality – i.e., the ability to perceive, enjoy and produce music. During the last two decades, there has been an explosion of theoretical proposals aimed at explaining why and how humans have evolved into musical beings, and the empirical comparative research has also gained momentum. In this paper, we focus on the rhythmic component of musicality, and review functional and mechanistic theoretical proposals concerning putative prerequisites for perceiving and producing rhythmic structures similar to those encountered in music. For each theoretical proposal we also review supporting and contradictory empirical findings. To acknowledge that the evolutionary study of musicality requires an interdisciplinary approach, our review strives to cover perspectives and findings from as many disciplines as possible. We conclude with a research agenda that highlights relevant, yet thus far neglected topics in the comparative and evolutionary study of rhythm cognition. Specifically, we call for a widened research focus that will include additional rhythmic abilities besides entrainment, additional channels of perception and production besides the auditory and vocal ones, and a systematic focus on the functional contexts in which rhythmic signals spontaneously occur. With this expanded focus, and drawing from systematic observation and experimentation anchored in multiple disciplines, animal research is bound to generate many important insights into the adaptive pressures that forged the component abilities of human rhythm cognition and their (socio)cognitive and (neuro)biological underpinnings.

The (co)evolution of language and music under human self-domestication

Preprint

Full-text available

Feb 2022

Together with language, music is perhaps our most distinctive behavioral trait. As for language, different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in the species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the self-domestication view of human evolution, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process similar to mammal domestication, triggered by a reduction in reactive aggression responses resulting from environmental changes. In the paper, we specifically argue that self-domestication can account for some of the cognitive changes, and particularly for the behaviors conducive for the complexification of music through a cultural mechanism. We hypothesize 4 stages in the evolution of music under self-domestication forces: collective proto-music, private timbre-oriented music, small group pitch-oriented music, and finally, collective tonally-organized music. This line of development parallels what has been hypothesized for languages. It encompasses the diversity of music types and genres described worldwide. Overall, music diversity emerges in a gradual fashion under the effects of our enhanced abilities for cultural niche construction, as shaped by the progressive decrease in reactive (i.e., impulsive, triggered by fear or anger) aggression and the increase in proactive (i.e., premeditated, goal-directed) aggression.

A influência da música no consumo dos alimentos

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2022

O presente estudo visa apresentar como a temática música influencia a escolha dos alimentos pelos consumidores, seja de forma consciente, ou inconsciente, além de revelar como a música excede os limites de partituras, instrumentos e ruídos ao alcance de uma força vibracional que se espalha por todo lugar, exercendo ações sobre o homem as quais podem ser empregadas nas diversas ocasiões, principalmente nas áreas de percepção alimentar. A pesquisa foi realizada através de revisão bibliográfica com artigos de estudos sobre o tema proposto no intuito de contribuir às referências aos efeitos musicais e mentais. Várias linhas de pesquisa baseiam-se em experimentos conduzidos com grupos de pessoas a demonstrar como a influência sonora reflete no consumo dos alimentos. Tais resultados revelam que a música ocasiona alterações em nossos sentidos e humor, interferindo diretamente no sabor e na escolha dos alimentos pelo consumidor.

Effect of Music on Stress Parameters in Dogs during a Mock Veterinary Visit

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2022

Veterinary visits can be stressful for dogs, but how their wellbeing changes during a visit is not well understood. Music therapy has been successfully used in clinical practice to alleviate stress and anxiety in people. The present study aimed to understand how canine stress changes during a veterinary visit, establish the effect of music, and highlight measures which may be of practical use. In a randomized crossover design, dogs were exposed to no music and a bespoke piece of classical music at a tempo designed to match their resting heart rate during a mock veterinary visit. Dogs were scored as more “afraid” during the physical examination compared to when they were in the hospital kennel (p < 0.001). Salivary cortisol, IgA, and infrared temperature all increased significantly (p < 0.05) from baseline to post-kennel and post-examination, with no effect of music treatment. Core body temperature (p = 0.010) and the odds of ‘relaxed’ lips (p = 0.020) were lower when dogs were exposed to music compared to control visits. Overall, dogs experienced changes in physiology and behavior, indicative of increased stress, over the course of the visit. Additional research is required to further understand the effect that bespoke music may have in alleviating canine stress during veterinary visits.

Retracted: Prenatal Exposure to Classical Music Improves Learning and Memory in Adult Rats

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2022

Background: Exposure to music during pregnancy enhances brain development and improves learning in neonatal rats. Methods: In these experiments, we examined the effects of exposure to silence, hard rock, classical, and rap music in utero plus 60 days postpartum on learning and memory in adult Wistar rats. Passive avoidance learning (PAL) was assessed at age 60 days, and a retention test was done 24 hours after training. Elevated plus maze (EPM) was also used as a standard behavioral task for assessing the effects of music therapy on anxiety. Furthermore, we measured serum corticosterone levels and adrenal weight at the end of experiments to show the possible effect of stress on the rats’ behavior. Results: Hard rock music impaired acquisition, increasing the number of trials to acquisition in PAL task. Hard rock music also impaired the retrieval process by decreasing step-through latency and increasing time spent in the dark compartment during the retention trial. Further, in the hard rock group, there were increases in serum corticosterone and adrenal weight of rats. Classical music, in turn, improved acquisition learning and retention memory and decreased serum corticosterone levels compared to the silence group. Rats’ exposure to rap music did not show any significant change in acquisition and retrieval processes compared to the silence group. In the EPM task, classical music exposure had anxiolytic-like effects revealed in an increase in the number of entries into open arms and time spent in the open arms. However, in this task, hard rock music induced an anxiogenic effect. Conclusions: Prenatal and postnatal exposure to music improves PAL and memory in adult rats. The effects of music therapy with classical music might be related to stress reduction by lowering corticosterone as a stress biomarker or anxiolytic effects; this deserves further examination.

Human aggression and music evolution: a model

Preprint

Full-text available

Jan 2022

Together with language, music is perhaps our most distinctive behavioral trait. Following the lead of paleolinguistic research, different hypotheses have been proposed to explain why only humans perform music and how this ability might have evolved in the species. In this paper, we advance a new model of music evolution that builds on the theory of self-domestication, according to which the human phenotype is, at least in part, the outcome of a process similar to mammal domestication, triggered by a progressive reduction in reactive aggression levels in response to environmental changes. In the paper, we specifically argue that changes in aggression management through the course of human cultural evolution can account for the behaviors conducive to the emergence and evolution of music. We hypothesize 4 stages in the evolutionary development of music under the influence of environmental changes and evolution of social organization: starting from musilanguage, proto-music gave rise to personal and private forms of timbre-oriented music, then to small-group ensembles of pitch-oriented music, at first of indefinite and then definite pitch, and finally to collective (tonal) music. These stages parallel what has been hypothesized for languages and encompass the diversity of music types and genres described worldwide. Overall, music complexity emerges in a gradual fashion under the effects of enhanced abilities for cultural niche construction, resulting from the stable trend of reduction in reactive aggression towards the end of the Pleistocene, leading to the rise of hospitality codes, and succeeded by increase in proactive aggression from the beginning of the Holocene onward. This paper addresses numerous controversies in the literature on the evolution of music by providing a clear structural definition of music, identifying its structural features that distinguish it from oral language, and summarizing the typology of operational functions of music and formats of its transmission. The proposed framework of structural approach to music arms a researcher with means to identify and comparatively analyze different schemes of tonal organization of music, placing them in the context of human social and cultural evolution. Especially valuable contribution to the understanding of transition from animal communication to human music and language is the theory of so-called “personal song”, described and analyzed here from ethological, social, cultural, cognitive, and musicological perspectives. The emergence of personal song and its development into a social institution are interlinked with the evolution of kinship and placed into the timeline of cultural evolution, based on totality of ethnographic, archaeological, anthropological, genetic, and paleoclimatic data.

Evaluation of music therapy to reduce stress in hospitalized cats

Article

Dec 2021

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the use of two different types of music – cat-specific music and classical music – compared with no music, to reduce stress in cats during hospitalization. Methods Thirty-five hospitalized cats were randomly divided into three groups and each group received a different stimulus – cat-specific music, classical music or no music (control) – throughout their hospitalization. Respiratory rate, salivary cortisol and social interaction were documented. A blinded researcher performed the Cat Stress Score (CSS) during the video analysis of recordings at five specific times over 31 h of hospitalization. Results There was no difference in the mean CSS between cats listening to cat-specific music, classical music and control throughout the five evaluations. Cat-specific music had a higher percentage of positive social interactions than the other groups on the first evaluation (P <0.05). The average respiratory rate was significantly lower in the classical music group vs control on the fourth evaluation (P <0.05). Although statistically insignificant, the average respiratory rate decreased only in the classical music group during the five evaluations. Cortisol quantification did not seem to follow the CSS results. However, owing to the low and unrepresentative number of samples, it was not possible to perform statistical analysis on these results or a group sample comparison. Conclusions and relevance Both cat-specific music and classical music seem to have some benefit to hospitalized cats. The salivary cortisol analysis was not adequate nor useful to measure stress in hospitalized cats in our study.

Evaluation of music therapy to reduce stress in hospitalized cats

Article

Dec 2021

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the use of two different types of music – cat-specific music and classical music – compared with no music, to reduce stress in cats during hospitalization. Methods Thirty-five hospitalized cats were randomly divided into three groups and each group received a different stimulus – cat-specific music, classical music or no music (control) – throughout their hospitalization. Respiratory rate, salivary cortisol and social interaction were documented. A blinded researcher performed the Cat Stress Score (CSS) during the video analysis of recordings at five specific times over 31 h of hospitalization. Results There was no difference in the mean CSS between cats listening to cat-specific music, classical music and control throughout the five evaluations. Cat-specific music had a higher percentage of positive social interactions than the other groups on the first evaluation ( P <0.05). The average respiratory rate was significantly lower in the classical music group vs control on the fourth evaluation ( P <0.05). Although statistically insignificant, the average respiratory rate decreased only in the classical music group during the five evaluations. Cortisol quantification did not seem to follow the CSS results. However, owing to the low and unrepresentative number of samples, it was not possible to perform statistical analysis on these results or a group sample comparison. Conclusions and relevance Both cat-specific music and classical music seem to have some benefit to hospitalized cats. The salivary cortisol analysis was not adequate nor useful to measure stress in hospitalized cats in our study.

Musicians and researchers: two creative professions striving to improve heart health through music

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2025

Musicians and researchers are creative professions that share many similarities. They both aim to bring joy and progress to humanity. In recent decades, it has been shown that music has the ability to alleviate pain, improve heart function, reduce anxiety, and stimulate the release of endogenous opioids in the brain. This has led to the emergence of music therapy as a popular therapeutic option for supporting and regulating cardiovascular health, emotional, cognitive functions, and mental wellbeing. Similarly, translational researchers and clinicians strive to generate new medical knowledge and effective treatments for various diseases. In their daily work, both musicians and scientists engage in the development of new ideas, concepts, and visions. They explore and experiment to find the best way to create something novel. Furthermore, driven by discovery, curiosity, and a deep longing, they strive to make a significant impact on heart health. In today's world, artificial intelligence technology plays an increasingly important role in achieving these goals in both fields. Success is measured by publications in esteemed journals or achieving high rankings on music charts. This review explores the similarities between researchers and musicians and how music therapy can aid in the treatment of specific symptoms related to heart function.

Adult neurogenesis and the microbiota-gut-brain axis in farm animals: underestimated and understudied parameters for improving welfare in livestock farming

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2024

Welfare in commercial livestock farming is becoming increasingly important in current agriculture research. Unfortunately, there is a lack of understanding about the neuronal mechanisms that underlie well-being on an individual level. Neuroplasticity in the hippocampus, the subventricular zone (SVZ), the olfactory bulb (OB) and the hypothalamus may be essential regulatory components in the context of farm animal behaviour and welfare that may be altered by providing environmental enrichment (EE). The importance of pre-and probiotics as a form of EE and the microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA) has come under the spotlight in the last 20 years, particularly in the contexts of research into stress and of stress resilience. However, it could also be an important regulatory system for animal welfare in livestock farming. This review aims to present a brief overview of the effects of EE on physiology and behaviour in farm animals and briefly discusses literature on behavioural flexibility, as well as inter-individual stress-coping styles and their relationship to animal welfare. Most importantly, we will summarise the literature on different forms of neural plasticity in farm animals, focusing on neurogenesis in various relevant brain regions. Furthermore, we will provide a brief outlook connecting these forms of neuroplasticity, stress, EE, the MGBA and welfare measures in modern livestock farming, concentrating on pigs.

Different sound exposures causes alterations in stress-related serum indicators, behaviors, and cecal microbiota of green-shell egg-laying chickens under different stocking densities

Article

Nov 2024

Sound and stocking density are two common factors which influence the performance and welfare of layers. Accumulated studies have been conducted on the impacts of the two factors on production performance, while knowledge regarding the impacts of the two factors and their interactions on stress-related serum indicators, behaviors, and cecal bacterial communities in laying hens is still limited. A 3 × 3 factorial design with three sound sources (natural sound (NS), instrumental music (IMS), or mixed road noise (MRS)) and three stocking densities (low density (LD), medium density (MD), and high density (HD)) was used in this 24-day experiment, in which 378 30-week-old Xiandao green-shell layers were randomly distributed into nine treatments with six replicates per treatment. At the 3 rd , 12 th , and 24 th experimental day, we evaluated the serum levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and corticosterone (CORT) and recorded stress-related animal behaviors. At the end of the experiment, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of the cecal bacterial communities was performed. Our results confirmed that MRS and HD induced significantly elevated serum ACTH and CORT levels, and were correlated with significantly increased feather pecking behavior. IMS and LD were associated with enhanced preening behavior and reduced feather pecking behavior. LD significantly increased the Firmicutes/Bacteriodetes ratio and IMS significantly enriched the beneficial Lactobacillus population. Based on the obtained results we proposed that music exposure and reduced stocking density were helpful in reducing stress and improving cecal bacterial profile, which were beneficial for improving layers’ health status and welfare.

Husbandry

Chapter

Nov 2024

Husbandry is a general term that gathers several aspects in relation to the housing and basic care of laboratory animals. In this chapter, we will explore essential aspects of husbandry for laboratory animals, emphasizing the pivotal role of optimal conditions to ensure animal well-being and care and to meet experimental requirements. It highlights the significance of providing animals with an environment that not only meets regulatory standards but also contributes to their welfare, while taking into account their respective features and specificities. Some topics will also be discussed in other chapters of this book; reference to these other chapters is indicated.

5th Edition Book: The Water Buffalo in the Americas. CHAPTER 28. Relevance of human-animal relationships in water buffalo productivity / Relevancia de la interacción humano-animal en la productividad del búfalo de agua. 5a. edición. (2024): 771-794.

Chapter

Full-text available

Aug 2024

The evolution of human music in light of increased prosocial behavior: a new model

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2023

Control your cats! The biopolitics of urban cat-human relations

Chapter

Full-text available

Oct 2024

Kristine Hill

Building upon the author’s doctoral research, this paper focuses on discourses surrounding roaming urban cats (Felis catus) and Foucauldian biopower over feline bodies. It demonstrates how a biopolitical framework can be applied to understand methods of control and power over other-than-human lives and serves as a means to understand cat-human relations. Whether to protect wildlife or the cats themselves, biopower is exerted over feline bodies via collars, microchips, desexing, and restrictions on roaming. The language of ‘domestication,’ ‘wild,’ and ‘feral’ are translated to different notions of ‘catness’ and beliefs about what is ‘best for cats’ and our role as guardians. This in turn shapes social expectations, pressures, and bylaws restricting the roaming of cats. Veterinarian and welfarist recommendations of desexing are instrumental in normalising neutering and spaying, which renders cats less prone to fight or spray urine, and more inclined to be docile companion animals. This essay argues that the desexed cats themselves become biopolitical agents by reinforcing notions of ‘catness’ and conforming to notions of ‘good’ companion animals or community members. The paper concludes by discussing how terms such as ‘community,’ rather than ‘feral’ or ‘street’ cats can help change the dialogue and foster more caring multispecies communities.

Effect of classical music on light-plane anaesthesia and analgesia in dogs subjected to surgical nociceptive stimuli

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2024

The objectives of this prospective, randomized, blinded, crossover, experimental study were to detect the potential anaesthetic- and analgesic-sparing effects of classical music provided to dogs undergoing skin surgery, and to investigate the role of substance P as an intraoperative pain indicator. Twenty dogs were included, each subjected to three different treatments: Chopin music, Mozart music and no music. They were premedicated with acepromazine, butorphanol and meloxicam and anaesthetized with propofol and isoflurane. Fentanyl was used as rescue analgesia. The anaesthetic depth was monitored by using the bispectral index along with standard anaesthetic monitoring, and autonomic nervous system responses were used to monitor the adequacy of analgesia. Furthermore, measurements of substance P serum concentration were carried out. Dogs exposed to music required less isoflurane and fentanyl. Furthermore, a statistically significant effect of time on substance P concentration was observed regardless of exposure to music, and there was a significant interaction effect between different timepoints and the type of acoustic stimulus. Classical music seems to have an isoflurane and fentanyl sparing effect on dogs undergoing minor surgery. Following surgical stimulation, the serum substance P concentration increases rapidly, and thus appears to be a potentially useful pain indicator.

Effect of specific sound frequency on production performance, egg quality and physiological characteristics of laying hens

Article

Jul 2024
Ital J Anim Sci

Effects of auditory enrichment and regular human contact on stress response, underlying fearfulness, and growth performance in broiler chickens

Article

Jul 2024

Interacción Humano-Animal y la Productividad del Búfalo de Agua, Avances Recientes

Technical Report

Full-text available

Jun 2022

Chapter 30. Human-animal relationship in water buffalo/Importancia de la interacción humano-animal en la productividad del búfalo de agua. Book: EL BÚFALO DE AGUA EN LAS AMÉRICAS. Fourth edition. 2022: 809-832.

Chapter

Full-text available

Apr 2023

Adapted Original Music as an Environmental Enrichment in an Intensive Pig Production System Reduced Aggression in Weaned Pigs during Regrouping

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2023

Simple Summary In intensive swine production systems, managing the regrouping of pigs is a common practice, but it often leads to aggressive behaviors, which can harm the welfare of the animals. This study explores an approach that involves composing and producing music based on acoustic parameters established by QUIRON Pathobiology research group. The aim is to reduce aggressive behaviors in pigs, thereby enhancing pig welfare during regrouping. Our findings indicate that this cost-effective and easy-to-implement strategy reduces aggressive behaviors in piglets during regrouping. This research offers valuable insights for producers, providing them with a practical way to enhance pig behavior and welfare while also contributing to the broader understanding of animal well-being in swine production systems. Abstract In intensive swine production systems,, the practice of regrouping unfamiliar pigs is common, often leading to aggressive behavior. Although the effect of different musical genres composed for humans has been evaluated in pigs to mitigate aggression, there have been few attempts to create music specifically for pigs. Here, we assess whether sensory stimulation through music, created by adapting the acoustic parameters in the sound mix, induces changes in the aggressive behaviors of pigs during regrouping. Six litters of 10-week-old piglets were randomly selected and assigned to different treatments. The control group (Group A) received no intervention, while Group B was exposed to music for two continuous hours in the morning and afternoon from the time of regrouping. Group C received musical stimulation for one continuous hour in the morning following regrouping. A significant reduction in the frequency and duration of aggressive behaviors was observed in the groups that received musical stimulation during regrouping. Additionally, social, and individual play behaviors showed a decrease in the musical stimulation groups. These findings provide evidence for the effectiveness of created music as a strategy in reducing aggressive behavior during pig regrouping, which can enhance the welfare of pigs and offer a practical solution for pig producers to minimize aggression and its associated negative impacts.

NEW GROWTH REGULATORS OF BARLEY (HORDEUM VULGARE L. ) BASED ON PYRIDINE AND PYRIMIDINE DERIVATIVES.

Conference Paper

Full-text available

May 2023

The creation of new efficient and environmentally friendly growth regulators of barley is a priority task for the successfully development of the modern agriculture. The present work is aimed at screening of new effective growth regulators of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) variety Avatar among synthetic pyrimidine and pyridine derivatives. As a result of the screening, the most physiologically active synthetic compounds that improve the morphometric parameters (average length of shoots and roots (mm) and the average biomass (g)) of 2-week-old barley were selected. It was shown that the growth-regulating activity of the synthetic pyrimidine and pyridine derivatives applied at a concentration of 10-7M, is similar to or exceeds the growth-regulating activity of plant hormones auxins IAA (1H-indol-3-yl)acetic acid) and NAA (1-naphthylacetic acid) applied in a similar concentration. The practical application of the selected most active synthetic pyrimidine and pyridine derivatives for improving the development of shoots and roots, and increasing the biomass of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) variety Avatar is proposed. Keywords: pyrimidine, pyridine, auxins IAA and NAA, barley growth.

Laboratory animal welfare issues

Chapter

Jan 2023

Emotional responses of piglets under long-term exposure to negative and positive auditory stimuli

Article

Oct 2022
DOMEST ANIM ENDOCRIN

The stress caused by sound is inevitable. The stress caused by noise and the positive effects of music can affect the endocrine of animals and their welfare. In this study, a total of 72 hybrid piglets (Large White × Duroc × Min pig) were randomly divided into 3 groups, including music (Mozart K.448, 60-70 dB), noise (recorded mechanical noise, 80-85 dB), and control (natural background sound, <40 dB) groups. S-IgA (secretory immunoglobulin A), IL-6 (interleukin-6), IL-8 (interleukin-8), and positive emotion-related behaviors were used as indicators to discuss whether noise induced stress and inflammation in piglets or whether music could have positive effects. Six hours of auditory exposure were given daily (10:00 - 16:00), which lasted for 56 days. Behavioral responses of the piglets were observed, and the concentrations of salivary S-IgA and serum IL-6 and IL-8 were measured. The results showed that the concentration of S-IgA increased in the noise and control groups on the 57th day (P < 0.05); S-IgA concentration in the music group was unchanged after long-term music exposure. The concentrations of IL-6 and IL-8 showed that long-term noise exposure might lead to stress and inflammation in piglets. Tail-wagging and play behaviors of the piglets in the music group were significantly greater than those in the noise and control groups, which implied that long-term music exposure improved the emotional state of the piglets in a restricted and barren environment.

Music, Prayer, and “Something Understood”: Jean Molinet and George Herbert on the Ineffable

Article

Sep 2022

Camilo Peralta

During the Middle Ages, Christian theologians developed various means for addressing God’s ineffable, or indescribable, nature. One could, for instance, employ apophatic or “negative” theology, or use music and prayer as metaphors for the harmony of the universe and our relationship with Him. This paper examines the use of these and other approaches to the ineffable by the French indiciare Jean Molinet and the English poet George Herbert. Despite being written hundreds of years apart and in different languages, Molinet’s Chroniques (1474–1504) and Herbert’s “Prayer ( I )” (1633) both rely on a series of impressionistic metaphors to convey something of the ineffability of their respective subjects (music and prayer). In their efforts to describe that which is difficult, if not impossible, to capture in words, both turn to the long tradition of Christian mysticism, and in particular the works of Pseudo-Dionysius and Boethius.

Exploring the effect of auditory stimuli on activity levels, milk yield and fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in Holstein cows

Article

Sep 2022
DOMEST ANIM ENDOCRIN

Health and welfare are inextricably linked within efficient and sustainable dairy production, and several potential risk factors may affect the well-being of dairy cows, including chronic stress. Although auditory stimuli could be used as a tool to decrease the potential stress that cows might experience, it is seldom applied to livestock production systems due to the perception that enrichment is an unnecessary expense. This study aimed to explore the effect of auditory stimuli as a form of enrichment in a Holstein herd by monitoring faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) concentrations (a non-invasive, stress-associated biomarker). Cow activity level and milk yield were also measured. Nine cows in their second and third lactation were divided into three groups, using a Latin Square experimental design, exposing each cow group to each of the three treatments, namely constant exposure (CE), limited exposure (LE), and no exposure (NE) to classical music. FGCMs were quantified using a group-specific enzyme immunoassay detecting 11,17-dioxoandrostanes. Compared to LE and NE animals, cows exposed to constant music had significantly lower fGCM concentrations (P = 0.012), as well as higher milk yields (P < 0.0001) and lowered activity levels during the morning (P = 0.005) and the evening activity period (P = 0.048). These findings indicate that auditory stimuli in the form of classical music may have a positive effect on the welfare of cows as well as milk yield, which hold economic benefits for the producer and potentially reduces the number of cows needed for profitable production.

The effect of auditory stimulation on pet dogs’ reactions to owner separation

Article

Sep 2022
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

The domestic dog has attracted notable attention in relation to the welfare benefits of auditory stimulation. Studies carried out in rescue kennels, an environment in which dogs are prone to chronic stress, have pointed to a calming influence of both classical music and audiobooks. The benefits of auditory stimulation for dogs experiencing more immediate types of stress, however, are still unknown. This investigation thus examined the effect of classical music and the spoken voice in the form of an audiobook on the behaviour of pet dogs in response to separation from their owners, a known short-term stressor. Three conditions of auditory stimulation were employed: (1) a control (the normal environment of the university research room), (2) classical music (Mozart’s Sonata K.448) and (3) an audiobook (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone). The effect of these conditions was explored using two approaches. Study 1 explored the effects of auditory stimulation using a between-subjects design. Sixty dogs were assigned to one of the 3 conditions and exposed to the relevant auditory stimulus for 1-hour. Each dog’s behaviour was recorded every 10 s using a purpose-designed ethogram. Latency data were recorded by video. Results revealed a significant effect of auditory condition on latency to lie down, latency to settle (i.e., lie down for >30 s) and speaker-directed gaze. Dogs exposed to classical music were significantly faster to lie down than animals in the audiobook condition and quicker to settle than animals in the audiobook and control conditions. Subjects in the audiobook condition spent significantly more time gazing at the speaker than animals in the classical music and control conditions. Dogs in the classical music condition also spent significantly more time looking towards the speaker than control animals. Study 2 examined the effects of auditory stimulation using a repeated measures design. Twenty-two dogs were exposed to each condition of auditory stimulation for 30 min, with a period of 10 min between conditions. Each animal’s behaviour was recorded as per Study 1. Only speaker-directed gaze differed significantly between conditions, with animals spending more time looking at the speaker in the audiobook and classical music conditions than the control. Overall, findings point to only a moderately calming effect of classical music, and no apparent welfare benefits of an audiobook, on dogs separated from their owners. The research points to auditory stimulation having little value to dogs in situations of short-term acute stress. Further research is recommended in this field, ideally in a wider variety of contexts than studied thus far.

Enrichment with classical music enhances affiliative behaviours in bottlenose dolphin

Article

Jul 2022
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

Environmental enrichment is a crucial element for the promotion of welfare of animals kept under human care. While a large variety of environmental enrichments has been proposed and studied for terrestrial animals, including a growing area represented by acoustical enrichment such as music, the same is not true for marine mammals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of classical music to act as an enrichment for bottlenose dolphins under human care (Tursiops truncatus); its effect on the dolphins’ behaviour were compared with that of a less complex auditory stimulus (rain sound), another novel, but visual enrichment (slideshow of photographs), and an already known form of enrichment (floating objects). The study was conducted on 8 dolphins housed in a dolphinarium in Riccione, Italy. Enrichments were provided for 20 minutes/day, on 7 days for each enrichment type. Their effect was evaluated by observing changes in behaviours expressed during or shortly after the provision of the enrichment. Some effects were unspecific, being shared by most, or all types of enrichment, including an increase of activity levels and synchronous swimming. However, only classical music was able to increase several social affiliative behaviours both during its presentation and after its removal. The results indicate that classical music has positive effects on behaviour, that qualify it as an effective environmental enrichment for dolphins in this context. Some aspects remain to be elucidated, including the mechanisms by which music exerts its effects, and how specific to classical music the latter are. Nonetheless, the specificity of effects on social behaviour suggest that classical music could be particularly useful when an improvement in social behaviours is needed.

Dominique Lestel’s Pioneering Biosemiotic Vision of “the Enchanted Space of Trans-Specific Communication” within Hybrid Societies

Chapter

Apr 2022

Keith Moser

This chapter highlights Dominique Lestel’s pioneering biosemiotic vision of “the enchanted space of trans-specific communication” that unapologetically transcends disciplinary demarcations. Whereas many theorists examine the complexity of the signs conceived, disseminated, and interpreted by a given species in relative isolation from other semiosic realms, Lestel exposes the porosity of the boundaries that is emblematic of a shared life with other sentient, semiotic creatures with whom we dwell in what he refers to as hybrid communities or mixed societies. Lestel posits that we (re-) construct a stable sense of Self through transformative, quotidian encounters with all of the human and especially non-human companions with whom we share our lives. The philosopher compels us to take advantage of any semiotic device that we have at our disposal that could further strengthen human-animal relations, thereby leading to the conception of “fully mixed” societies characterized by a high degree of semiotic, trans-specific interaction.

Inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome with MCC950 prevents chronic social isolation-induced depression-like behavior in male mice

Article

Oct 2021

Filial Imprinting, Environmental Enrichment, and Music Application Effects on Behavior and Performance of Meat Strain Chicks

Article

Full-text available

Feb 1989

Combined effects of music, environmental enrichment, and filial imprinting were tested on meat strain chicks (broilers) from 1 to 7 days old (Study I) or from one to 8 wk old (Study II). In six experiments conducted in two separate studies, chicks were exposed to a blue plastic box (30 × 30 × 38 cm) containing speakers from which red gloves were hung at the chicks’ eye level. Classical music was provided intermittently (1 h on/1 h off) from speakers located in the boxes. Approach response, feeding behavior, fear behavior, body weight, feed:gain ratio, and mortality were evaluated. Approach response tests (Study I) demonstrated that attachment to the imprinting enrichment and music (IEM) object was greater among treated chicks, whereas fear response tests indicated that IEM-treated chicks were also less fearful. Evaluation of feeding behavior (Study II) indicated that IEM chickens fed significantly more often than controls, particularly when the music was activated. Feed:gain ratios of the IEM-treated chicks in Study I were significantly improved (1.48 vs. 1.58) compared with those of controls for three of the four experiments. The exception occurred in Experiment 3, when chicks were exposed to heat stress, and nonsignificant differences for feed:gain ratios were observed. Body weight and mortality differences were not observed. Results of Study II, however, demonstrated significant influences of imprinting, enrichment, and music on body weight at 8 wk of age (2.63 vs. 2.57 kg), whereas differences in feed conversion and mortality were not significant.

Effects of specific noise and music stimuli on stress and fear levels of laying hens of several breeds

Article

Full-text available

May 2005
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the effects of specific sound stimuli on heterophil to lymphocyte ratio and tonic immobility duration of laying hens. There were two different experiments. The first experiment (216 birds) measured heterophil to lymphocyte ratio and tonic immobility duration in 36-week-old hens of four Spanish breeds of chickens (Castellana, Villafranquina, Vasca, and Prat) exposed to specific noise stimuli of 65dB (background chicken vocalizations and fans, control) or 90dB (background noises plus truck, train, and aircraft noises) for 60min, between 8.00 and 9.00 once. There was significant difference for the heterophil to lymphocyte ratio between noise treatments (P

Environmental enrichment: Increasing the biological relevance of captive environments

Article

Full-text available

Sep 1995
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

Ruth C Newberry

Environmental enrichment is a vague concept referring to improvements to captive animal environments. Some authors have applied the term to an environmental treatment itself, without any concrete evidence that the treatment represented an improvement for the animals. Others have used the term when the main beneficiaries may have been people rather than their captive animals. The criteria used to assess enrichment have also varied according to animal use (e.g. laboratory, farm or zoo animals). In this paper, environmental enrichment is defined as an improvement in the biological functioning of captive animals resulting from modifications to their environment. Evidence of improved biological functioning could include increased lifetime reproductive success, increased inclusive fitness or a correlate of these such as improved health. However, specifying an appropriate endpoint is problematic, especially for domestic animals. Potential methods of achieving enrichment that require further investigation include presenting food in ways that stimulate foraging behaviour and dividing enclosures into different functional areas. The quality of the external environment within the animals' sensory range also deserves greater attention. A common shortcoming of attempts at environmental enrichment is the provision of toys, music or other stimuli having little functional relevance to the animals. Failure to consider the effects of developmental factors and previous experience can also produce poor results. Environmental enrichment is constrained by financial costs and time demands on caretakers, and providing live prey to enrich the environment of predators raises ethical concerns. Future research on environmental enrichment would benefit from improved knowledge of the functions of behaviour performed in captivity and more rigorous experimental design.

Effects of cage size and environmental enrichment on behavioral and physiological responses of rhesus macaques to the stress of daily events.

Article

Full-text available

Jan 1991

A comparative approach to vocal learning: Song development in white-crowned sparrows

Article

Full-text available

May 1970
J Comp Physiol Psychol

Peter Marler

Unlike nonhuman primates and some other species used in attempts to condition vocal behavior, certain song birds display considerable facility at vocal imitation in the wild state. Species-specific characteristics of the song of the male white-crowned sparrow are normally acquired by learning from adults. Local song dialects result. Males raised in individual or group isolation developed abnormal songs. Exposure to normal song during a critical period of 10-50 days of age resulted in normal song development and in reproduction of the particular training dialect. Exposure to normal song during the 50-100 day age period shifted subsequent song development in a normal direction, but details of the training song were not reproduced. Exposure before 10 days and after 100 days of age had no effect. Song learning is selective in that exposure to songs of other species of 10-50 days of age had no effect on song development. Sensory rather than motor constraints appear to be responsible for the selectivity. To explain song development, an auditory template is postulated. At the start of the critical period the template is only a crude specification of normal song, but sufficient to exclude songs of other species. In training the specifications of the template become more precise. Vocalizations are matched to the template subsequently by auditory feedback. No extrinsic reinforcement seems to be necessary. Several analogies are drawn between song learning in white-crowned sparrows and speech development in children. (65 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Effect of Mozart's music (Romanze-Andante of “Eine Kleine Nacht Musik”, sol major, K525) stimulus on common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) physiology under different light conditions

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2007
AQUACULT ENG

It is well known that music could have relaxing and antidepressant effects on humans, other mammals and birds. The present study aimed to evaluate music effects on common carp Cyprinus carpio growth and physiology, under different light conditions. Therefore, common carp (130.9 ± 0.67 g) was reared, in recirculating water system, under constant darkness (D) or normally illuminated conditions (L) for 12 weeks. Classical music was transmitted underwater and music treatments consisted of no music at all (control groups, C) and three music transmissions either of 30 min duration at 1.5 h intervals (M30) or of 60 min duration at 1 h intervals (M60). Obtained results showed that light conditions had a negative effect on fish growth (L–C versus D–C, P < 0.01), but when 30 min music was transmitted (L-M30) growth was improved and equal to D–C. Fish groups presenting reduced growth exhibited significantly increased brain neurotransmitters levels, indicating the occurrence of stressful conditions. Also, music transmission significantly affected carcass and liver fatty acid composition. Present results showed that music could be regarded as a stress relieving or inducing factor. Possible use of music as a growth and product quality promoter, as well as a means to ensure fish welfare under intensive fish farming is discussed.

Perioperative music and its effects on anxiety, hemodynamics, and pain in women undergoing mastectomy

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2011

There is increasing interest in evaluating the use of nonpharmacologic interventions such as music to minimize potential adverse effects of anxiety-reducing medications. This study used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effects of a perioperative music intervention (provided continuously throughout the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative periods) on changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate, anxiety, and pain in women with a diagnosis of breast cancer undergoing mastectomy. A total of 30 women were assigned randomly to a control group or to the music intervention group. Findings indicated that women in the intervention group had a greater decrease in MAP and anxiety with less pain from the preoperative period to the time of discharge from the recovery room compared with women in the control group. Music is a noninvasive and low-cost intervention that can be easily implemented in the perioperative setting, and these findings suggest that perioperative music can reduce MAP, anxiety, and pain among women undergoing mastectomy for breast cancer.

Effects of auditory and physical enrichment on 3 measurements of fear and stress (tonic immobility duration, heterophil to lymphocyte ratio, and fluctuating asymmetry) in several breeds of layer chicks

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2011

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of auditory enrichment (by means of classical music) or physical enrichment (by means of hanging colored string bunches and barley grains on the floor) on tonic immobility duration, heterophil to lymphocyte ratio, and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in chicks of several layer breeds. In experiment 1, 192 chicks from 8 Spanish breeds and 1 White Leghorn population were reared in cages with or without music auditory enrichment until 8 wk of age. The effect of music auditory enrichment was significant for heterophil to lymphocyte ratio (P < 0.05). The ratios were higher in chicks reared without music than in those reared with music, suggesting that auditory enrichment from classical music reduces stress in chicks. There were significant differences in morphological trait measurements (relative asymmetry of wing length, leg width, and combined asymmetry; P < 0.05), being greater in chicks reared without music. This result suggests that FA is a good indicator for stress level in chicks, given that it follows the same trend as that found for heterophil to lymphocyte ratio. There was a significant treatment by breed interaction (P < 0.05) for tonic immobility duration, indicating no consistent effect by auditory enrichment on tonic immobility duration across breeds. In experiment 2, 180 chicks from 3 Spanish breeds were housed in pens with or without physical enrichment (colored plastic string bunches and barley grains on the floor) until 6 wk of age. The effect of physical enrichment on tonic immobility duration, heterophil to lymphocyte ratio, and FA was not significant, indicating no effect on fear and stress in layer chicks. In conclusion, auditory enrichment by means of classical music is a reliable method for reducing stress levels in several breeds of layer chicks. However, music auditory enrichment was not effective in reducing fearfulness in any of the layer breeds. Physical enrichment by means of colored plastic string bunches and floor barley grains does not appear to be an effective method for reducing stress and fear in layer chicks.

When Music and Long-Term Memory Interact: Effects of Musical Expertise on Functional and Structural Plasticity in the Hippocampus

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2010
PLOS ONE

The development of musical skills by musicians results in specific structural and functional modifications in the brain. Surprisingly, no functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study has investigated the impact of musical training on brain function during long-term memory retrieval, a faculty particularly important in music. Thus, using fMRI, we examined for the first time this process during a musical familiarity task (i.e., semantic memory for music). Musical expertise induced supplementary activations in the hippocampus, medial frontal gyrus, and superior temporal areas on both sides, suggesting a constant interaction between episodic and semantic memory during this task in musicians. In addition, a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) investigation was performed within these areas and revealed that gray matter density of the hippocampus was higher in musicians than in nonmusicians. Our data indicate that musical expertise critically modifies long-term memory processes and induces structural and functional plasticity in the hippocampus.

Expression of Synaptic Proteins in the Hippocampus and Spatial Learning in Chicks following Prenatal Auditory Stimulation

Article

Full-text available

May 2010
DEV NEUROSCI-BASEL

Prenatal auditory stimulation by species-specific sound influences the expression and levels of calcium-binding proteins in the chick hippocampus, which is important to learning and memory. Stimulation by sitar music additionally produces structural changes in the hippocampus. Synapse density, which influences the synaptic plasticity, is also increased following both types of sound stimulation. Here we report the expression of mRNA as well as levels of synaptic proteins (synaptophysin, synapsin I and PSD-95) in the hippocampus of developing chicks subjected to prenatal auditory stimulation. Further, to evaluate the behavioral outcome following acoustic stimulation, posthatch day 1 (PH1) chicks were analyzed by T-maze test for spatial learning. Fertilized zero day eggs were incubated under normal conditions and subjected to patterned sounds of species-specific or sitar music at 65 dB levels for 15 min/h over 24 h at a frequency range of 100-6,300 Hz for a period of 11 days from embryonic day (E) 10 until hatching. Following both types of prenatal acoustic stimulation, a significant increase in the levels of synaptophysin mRNA and protein was found from E12, whereas that of synapsin I and PSD-95 was observed from E16, suggesting early maturation of the excitatory synapse. A significant decrease in the time taken to reach the target over the 3 trials in both sound-stimulated groups indicates improved spatial learning. In the music-stimulated group, however, the time taken to reach the target was reduced from the very first trial, which may point to an involvement of other behavioral attributes in facilitating spatial navigation.

A survey investigation of the effects of music listening on chronic pain

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2007

Research interest into alternatives to analgesic medication has grown substantially during the past two decades. Moreover, a number of studies have provided empirical evidence that music listening, and in particular listening to our own preferred music, may provide an emotionally engaging distraction capable of reducing both the sensation of pain itself and the accompanying negative affective experience. The current study is a survey of 318 chronic pain sufferers, which aimed to (i) give a detailed description of the music listening behaviour of this group and relate this to experience of pain and quality of life, and (ii) indicate the numbers who consider music listening to be part of their pain management and investigate their perceptions of the benefits. Results indicated distraction and relaxation to be the most frequently perceived benefits of music reported by participants. Both frequent music listening and a perception of music as personally important were further found to relate to higher quality of life. Also, personal importance of music was significantly related to listening to help pain. These findings suggest beneficial effects of music listening to long-term pain.

Global view of the mechanisms of improved learning and memory capability in mice with music-exposure by microarray

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2009

Music has been proved beneficial to improve learning and memory in many species including human in previous research work. Although some genes have been identified to contribute to the mechanisms, it is believed that the effect of music is manifold, behind which must concern a complex regulation network. To further understand the mechanisms, we exposed the mice to classical music for one month. The subsequent behavioral experiments showed improvement of spatial learning capability and elevation of fear-motivated memory in the mice with music-exposure as compared to the naïve mice. Meanwhile, we applied the microarray to compare the gene expression profiles of the hippocampus and cortex between the mice with music-exposure and the naïve mice. The results showed approximately 454 genes in cortex (200 genes up-regulated and 254 genes down-regulated) and 437 genes in hippocampus (256 genes up-regulated and 181 genes down-regulated) were significantly affected in music-exposing mice, which mainly involved in ion channel activity and/or synaptic transmission, cytoskeleton, development, transcription, hormone activity. Our work may provide some hints for better understanding the effects of music on learning and memory.

Defining the Rhythmicity of Memory-Enhancing Acoustic Stimuli in the Young Domestic Chick (Gallus gallus)

Article

Full-text available

May 2009

Nikki Rickard

Research has demonstrated that exposure to a rhythmic auditory stimulus can promote retention of a simple memory task in an avian species. In the current study, day-old domestic chicks (Gallus gallus) were trained on a weakly reinforced discriminative avoidance task for which retention is typically lost 30 min posttraining. Exposure to rhythmic stimuli 5 min posttraining prevented memory loss, but only when sequences were highly metrical and contained sufficient repetition. These data provide further support for the claim that rhythmicity is a key feature of memory-enhancing auditory stimuli.

Experimental Evidence for Synchronization to a Musical Beat in a Nonhuman Animal

Article

Full-text available

May 2009

The tendency to move in rhythmic synchrony with a musical beat (e.g., via head bobbing, foot tapping, or dance) is a human universal [1] yet is not commonly observed in other species [2]. Does this ability reflect a brain specialization for music cognition, or does it build on neural circuitry that ordinarily serves other functions? According to the "vocal learning and rhythmic synchronization" hypothesis [3], entrainment to a musical beat relies on the neural circuitry for complex vocal learning, an ability that requires a tight link between auditory and motor circuits in the brain [4, 5]. This hypothesis predicts that only vocal learning species (such as humans and some birds, cetaceans, and pinnipeds, but not nonhuman primates) are capable of synchronizing movements to a musical beat. Here we report experimental evidence for synchronization to a beat in a sulphur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita eleonora). By manipulating the tempo of a musical excerpt across a wide range, we show that the animal spontaneously adjusts the tempo of its rhythmic movements to stay synchronized with the beat. These findings indicate that synchronization to a musical beat is not uniquely human and suggest that animal models can provide insights into the neurobiology and evolution of human music [6].

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) response to two music pieces (“Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and “Romanza”) combined with light intensity using a recirculating water system

Article

Full-text available

May 2009
FISH PHYSIOL BIOCHEM

The objective of this study was to further investigate the effects of music on fish physiology, bearing in mind available information regarding the involvement of endogenous and exogenous factors in fish farming. Therefore, Cyprinus carpio (50.5 +/- 0.36 g) were reared in a recirculating water system under 80 and 200 lux and subjected to no music at all (control, ambient noise only), 4 h of Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", or 4 h of anonymous "Romanza-Jeux Interdits" for 106 days. Both music treatments resulted in increased growth performance at both light intensities, with Romanza treatment at 200 lux resulting in better growth performance than Mozart treatment. Furthermore, feed efficiency for the Romanza groups was significantly better than for the control. Although no significant music effect was apparent for brain neurotransmitters, lower anterior intestine alkaline protease levels were detected for both music treatments. Taking into consideration the numerous advantages of recirculating water systems, it should be emphasised that fish response to music expresses the results of various physiological and biochemical processes, especially when fish notably respond differently when subjected to two different pieces of music.

Efficacy of auditory enrichment in a prosimian primate (Otolemur garnettii)

Article

Full-text available

May 2009

Research suggests that auditory environmental enrichment might reduce abnormal behavior in certain primate species. The authors evaluated the behavioral effects of exposure to music in a prosimian primate (Garnett's bushbaby; Otolemur garnettii). They exposed bushbabies to a Mozart concerto for 15 min per day for 20 d (5 h exposure total), video-recorded them and subsequently analyzed the frequency of subjects' grooming and stereotypic behaviors. The authors compared the data with baseline behavioral data that had been recorded over a 20-d period before the experimental treatment. Neither stereotypy nor grooming behavior varied as a result of exposure to music. These results do not support the hypothesis that auditory enrichment in the form of exposure to music is an effective means of reducing stereotypic behavior in O. garnettii.

Effects of Music Composed by Mozart and Ligeti on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Circadian Rhythms in Normotensive and Hypertensive Rats

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2008
CHRONOBIOL INT

Björn Lemmer

There is continuing discussion on the effect of music ("Mozart effect") on numerous functions in man and experimental animals. Radiotelemetry now allows one to monitor cardiovascular functions in freely-moving unrestrained experimental animals. Radiotelemetry was used to monitor systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP), heart rate (HR), and motor activity (MA) in male normotensive WKY and hypertensive SHR animals. Rats were synchronized to a 12 h light (L): 12 h dark (D) regimen in an isolated, ventilated, light-controlled, sound-isolated animal container. Music (Mozart, Symphony # 40; Ligeti, String Quartet # 2) were played for 2 h at 75 dB in the animal cabin starting at the onset of L or D in a cross-over design. Data were collected every 5 min for 24 h under control conditions and during and after music. In addition, plasma concentrations of norepinephrine (NE) were determined in unrestrained animals at 3 h intervals over 24 h. In both WKY and SHR, highly significant circadian rhythms were obtained in SBP, DBP, HR, and MA under control conditions; HR was lower and BP higher in SHR than in WKY. NE was circadian rhythmic in both strains with higher values in D; the increase in NE with immobilization was much more pronounced in SHR than in WKY. The music of Mozart had no effect on either parameter in WKY, neither in L nor in D. In contrast, in SHR, the music of Mozart presented in L significantly decreased HR and left BP unaffected, leading to a small decrease in cardiac output. The music of Ligeti significantly increased BP both in L and in D and reflexively reduced HR in L, the effects being long-lasting over 24 h. Interestingly, white noise at 75 dB had no effect at all on either function in both strains. The effects of both Mozart and Ligeti cannot be attributed to a stress reaction, as stress due to cage switch increased HR and BP both in WKY and SHR. The study clearly demonstrates that music of different character (tempo, rhythm, pitch, tonality) can modify cardiovascular functions in freely-moving rats, with SHR being more sensitive than normotensive animals. The relative contribution of the characteristics of the two pieces of music, however, needs further evaluation.

Role of auditory feedback in Canary song development

Article

Full-text available

Feb 1977
J Comp Physiol Psychol

As in other songbirds, early deafening had drastic effects on the song of the roller canary, a cardueline finch, resulting in a song that was much simpler and more variable than the normal. The repertoire of the syllable types, of which the song is made, was reduced from 30 to a mean of 5.0. Loud white noise was successfully used as a reversible method of cutting off auditory feedback from vocal behavior. Although suffering permanent elevation of hearing thresholds, birds reared in noise to 200 days, singing at first like deaf birds, subsequently increased their syllable repertoires significantly. Birds reared in noise to weaning at 40 days, again partly deaf, achieved a normal repertoire size when stimulated with a singing adult. Without such stimulation the repertoire was significantly reduced, showing that canary song is not fully innate, as had been thought. Although abnormal, the song of deaf canaries retained more species-specific features than did the song of emberizine sparrows when the songs developed without auditory feedback. The results are interpreted in terms of a sensory template theory.

Animal Welfare: Concepts and Measurement

Article

Full-text available

Nov 1991

Donald M. Broom

The term "welfare" refers to the state of an individual in relation to its environment, and this can be measured. Both failure to cope with the environment and difficulty in coping are indicators of poor welfare. Suffering and poor welfare often occur together, but welfare can be poor without suffering and welfare should not be defined solely in terms of subjective experiences. The situations that result in poor welfare are reviewed in this study with special reference to those in which an individual lacks control over interactions with its environment. The indicators of poor welfare include the following: reduced life expectancy, impaired growth, impaired reproduction, body damage, disease, immunosuppression, adrenal activity, behavior anomalies, and self-narcotization. The uses of measures of responsiveness, stereotypies, and animal preferences in welfare assessment are discussed. The need to make direct measurement of poor welfare as well as to use sophisticated studies of animal preferences is emphasized.

Effects of music and white noise on working memory performance in monkeys

Article

Jan 1997

Music interventions for mechanically ventilated patients

Article

Jan 2008

Experimental Evidence for Synchronization to a Musical Beat in a Nonhuman Animal (DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2009.03.038)

Article

May 2009
CURR BIOL

Imprinting or exposure learning in rats given early auditory stimulation

Article

Jul 2013

Albino rats were raised from birth in an environment of music in an attempt to assess the effects of early exposure to specific musical forms on subsequent preference behavior. Ss were housed in groups in sound chambers. One group was exposed to selections of the music of Mozart for 12 hr. a day for 52 days; a second group to the music of Schoenberg. In the test situation when the Ss were given an opportunity to select Mozart or Schoenberg music, the Mozart Ss displayed a significant preference for Mozart music. No preference was found among the Schoenberg Ss or among the control Ss raised in a similar environment devoid of music. These results show that early exposure may influence later choice behavior and perhaps point to some attachment process analogous to imprinting. However, questions arise as to why only the Mozart Ss “imprinted.” A possible explanation for this is offered.

The Effect of Music Therapy on Postoperative Pain, Heart Rate, Systolic Blood Pressure and Analgesic Use Following Nasal Surgery

Article

Aug 2009
J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother

The prevalence of unrelieved postoperative pain is high and may lead to adverse effects including prolonged hospitalization and delayed recovery. Distraction may be an effective pain-relieving strategy, and can be implemented by several means including affective imaging, games, and possibly music. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of music therapy on postoperative pain. Fifty-seven patients (24 females, 33 males; mean ± SD age 39.9 ± 14.35 years [range 15 to 69 years] were matched for age and sex and then nonselectively assigned to either an experimental (n = 27) or a control (n = 30) group. Music was played intermittently to members of the experimental group during the first 24 hour postoperative period. Pain intensity was measured using the Pain Verbal Rating Scales (VRS). Significant decreases in pain intensity over time were found in the experimental group compared to the control group (p < 0.0001). In addition, the experimental group had a lower systolic blood pressure and heart rate, and took fewer oral analgesics for pain. These findings suggest that music therapy is an effective nonpharmacologic approach for postoperative pain management.

Can Ambient Sound Reduce Distress in Piglets During Weaning and Restraint?

Article

Apr 2000

Music or other background sounds are often played in barns as environmental enrichment for animals on farms or to mask sudden disruptive noises. However, previous studies looking at the effects of this practice on nonhuman animal well-being and productivity have found contradictory results. This study monitored the vocal responses of piglets, as indicators of well-being, to evaluate the effect of various sounds played during 2 simulations of stressful farm procedures: (a) the 5 min the animals were held as if for castration and (b) the first 20 hr after weaning. The sound treatments included pink noise, music, vocalizations made by other piglets during actual castrations or the first hours after weaning, and silence (control). The study presented pink noise and music both with and without a binaural beat in the delta-theta frequency range. In both the handling and weaning situations, none of the sound treatments reduced the piglets' call rate below that heard during the control. Piglets vocalized most during playback of pink noise and least during silence and playback of calls from other pigs. These results suggest that playing music or other sounds provides no improvement in conditions for piglets during handling and weaning.

A preliminary study of the effect of music on equine behavior

Article

Nov 2000
J EQUINE VET SCI

Sensory stimulation as environmental enrichment for captive animals: A review

Article

Apr 2009
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

Deborah L Wells

In the wild, animals are exposed to an ever-changing array of sensory stimuli. The captive environment, by contrast, is generally much more impoverished in terms of the sensory cues it offers the animals housed within. In a bid to remedy this, and promote better welfare, researchers have started to explore the merits of sensory stimulation (i.e. stimulation designed to trigger one or more of an animal's senses) as a potential method of environmental enrichment for captive animals. This paper reviews the research in this area, focusing specifically on auditory, olfactory and visual methods of sensory stimulation. Studies exploring the efficacy of each type of stimulation as an enrichment tool are described, where appropriate, making a distinction between those that occur in the animal's natural habitat, and those that do not. Overall, it is concluded that sensory stimulation harbours enrichment potential for some animals housed in institutional settings, although the specific merits gained from these enrichments are likely to depend upon a wide variety of factors including, for example, species, sex, age and housing conditions. Programmes of sensory enrichment that target the dominant sense for the species under scrutiny, using harmless, non-stressful stimuli, are likely to result in the greatest benefits for animal welfare. Stimuli specific to a species’ natural habitat should not always be considered meaningful, or advantageous, to an animal's welfare; in some cases stimuli that do not occur naturally in the wild (e.g. classical music) may offer more in the way of welfare advantages. Shortcomings in the research, and factors to consider when implementing enrichment of this nature, are discussed throughout.

Music during playtime: Using context conditioning as a tool to improve welfare in piglets

Article

Dec 2008
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

In this experiment, we investigated whether music can facilitate play behaviour in piglets after weaning, when that music had been presented preweaning as a contextual cue associated with access to a playroom. One group of piglets was given daily access to a playroom preweaning while music was played during the entire play period (Playroom group, n=6 pens). The control group was daily exposed to the music as well, but this group was not given access to the playroom (NO Playroom group; n=6 pens). It was hypothesized that replay of music post weaning (on post-weaning days W2, W3 and W6) would facilitate play behaviour above and beyond the previously reported effects of preweaning playroom exposure per se. The results confirm that music replay post weaning does facilitate play behaviour in the Playroom group. The results also showed that playroom exposure preweaning reduced the number of injuries post weaning (W1, W2 and W3). In contrast with our expectations, music replay also facilitated play behaviour in the control group, although significantly less so than in the Playroom group. The results are discussed in relation to the possibilities to use music as a tool to improve welfare in animal husbandry systems.

A note on the effect of auditory stimulation on the behavior and welfare of zoo-housed gorillas

Article

Nov 2006
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

Auditory stimulation has long been employed as a form of therapy for humans and animals housed in institutions. Its effect on one of our closest-living relatives, the gorilla, however, is largely unknown. This study explored the effect of auditory stimulation on the behaviour and welfare of six gorillas housed in Belfast Zoo. All animals were exposed to three conditions of auditory stimulation: a control (no auditory stimulation), an ecologically relevant condition (rainforest sounds) and an ecologically non-relevant condition (classical music). The gorillas’ behaviour was recorded in each condition using a scan-sampling technique. There was no significant effect of the auditory environment on the gorillas’ behaviour, although animals tended to show more behaviours suggestive of relaxation (i.e. resting, sitting) and fewer behaviours typically associated with stress (i.e. aggression, abnormal behaviour) during the ecologically relevant, and, in particular, the non-relevant, conditions than the control. Overall, findings suggest that certain types of auditory stimulation may hold some merit as a method of enrichment for zoo-housed gorillas, although more long-term work with a larger number of animals is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.

A note on the effect of olfactory stimulation on the behaviour and welfare of zoo-housed gorillas

Article

Aug 2007
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

Olfactory stimulation has been shown to influence the behaviour of a wide variety of species and is now considered a useful form of environmental enrichment for many captive animals. To date, the effect of odour introduction on the behaviour of primates has been subject to little attention. This study thus investigated the behaviour of six zoo-housed western lowland gorillas in response to five odours (no odour [control], orange, vanilla, almond, peppermint) introduced individually on cloths into the animals’ exhibit for a period of 5 days per stimulus. The gorillas’ behaviour was recorded in each condition using a scan-sampling technique. Analysis showed that the gorillas sniffed the odour-impregnated cloths slightly (although not significantly) more frequently than the control cloths. There was no significant effect of olfactory stimulation on the gorillas’ general behaviour (P>0.05 for all behaviours). Overall, findings suggest that olfactory stimulation in the form of odour-impregnated cloths has little effect on the behaviour of captive gorillas. This raises questions over the value of olfactory stimulation as a useful method of environmental enrichment for this species. Further research using different odours, methods of olfactory presentation, and larger numbers of animals is required, however, before firm conclusions regarding the value of olfactory stimulation for the great apes can be reached.

Effect of music on voluntary approach of dairy cows to an automatic milking system

Article

Jun 1997
APPL ANIM BEHAV SCI

The main objective of this experiment was to assess the effect of music on the voluntary approach of cows to an automatic milking system (AMS). A group of 19 mid- and late-lactating Holstein cows with 2 months prior experience of twice-daily milking in the AMS was used in this study. The cows were housed in a free stall barn with slatted floors and fed a complete mixed ration using an indoor feed bunk. They were also offered 1.5 kg per cow of grain pellets in the AMS during milking. Music was played during the milking period for 69 days prior to observation with amplifiers located within the milking compartments, approximately 1.2 m above the head of the milking cows and also on the long side of the barn. The sounds were activated at the start of each milking period and terminated after the last milking cow left the AMS. Behavioural observations were carried out during the afternoon milking for 20 days randomly fluctuating between days with music and days without music. The number of cows in the holding area was instantaneously recorded at 5 min before and 5 min after the onset of the milking period. On days with music, the number of cows in the holding area increased from 22.3 ± 15.1% to 45.0 ± 18.0% (P < 0.01). On control days without music, this difference was less pronounced, increasing from 27.1 ± 13.7% to 35.1 ± 15.4% (P = 0.150). Changes in the composition of behavioural states from 5 min before to 5 min after the onset of the milking period were significant on days with music (P < 0.001) but not on control days (P = 0.412). The results show a stimulatory effect of music, influencing behavioural readiness of cows to access the milking compartments of the AMS.

The Influence of Auditory Stimulation on the Behaviour of Dogs Housed in a Rescue Shelter

Article

Nov 2002

This study explored the influence of five types of auditory stimulation (human conversation, classical music, heavy metal music, pop music, and a control) on the behaviour of 50 dogs housed in a rescue shelter. The dogs were exposed to each type of auditory stimulation for 4 h, with an intervening period of one day between conditions. The dogs' position in their kennels (front, back), their activity (moving, standing, sitting, resting, sleeping), and their vocalisation (barking, quiet, other) were recorded over 4 h at 10 min intervals during each condition of auditory stimulation. The dogs' activity and vocalisation were significantly related to auditory stimulation. Dogs spent more time resting and less time standing when classical music was played than when any of the other stimuli were played. Exposure to heavy metal music encouraged dogs to spend significantly more of their time barking than did other types of auditory stimulation. Classical music resulted in dogs spending significantly more of their time quiet than did other types of auditory stimulation. It is suggested that the welfare of sheltered dogs may be enhanced through exposure to appropriate forms of auditory stimulation. Classical music appears particularly beneficial, resulting in activities suggestive of relaxation and behaviours that are considered desirable by potential buyers. This form of music may also appeal to visitors, resulting in enhanced perceptions of the rescue shelter's environment and an increased desire to adopt a dog from such a source.

Keeping Mozart in Mind

Article

Oct 2012

Gordon L. Shaw

Discusses the technical aspects of how music can help one to understand how the brain works and how music can enhance how one thinks, reasons, and creates. Shaw presents the detail of his original research on the "Mozart effect" and presents the latest series of findings about the effect of music on intelligence and learning. Part I discusses how music can enhance ability to think and reason and how that derives from the basic structure of the brain. Part II contains symmetry and technical aspects of the book. The chapters in Part III contain all the details of the behavioral experiments the author has done with humans involving music. Part IV presents the results and proposed studies for a better understanding of higher brain function. Part V contains some results from experiments. The chapters of Part V also summarize some ideas and the author shares his dreams and cautions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Auditory stimulation as enrichment for zoo-housed Asian elephants (Elephas maximus)

Article

Nov 2008

This study explored the effect of auditory stimulation on the behavior and welfare of four zoo-housed, female Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus). All animals were exposed, in an ABA design, to two conditions of auditory stimulation: a 'control' (no auditory stimulation), and an 'experimental' condition, during which the animals were presented with a commercially-available CD of classical music. Each condition lasted for five days, with an interim period of two days between each condition (Study 1). The elephants' behavior was recorded every minute for four hours a day for the full five days of each condition using instantaneous scan-sampling. The procedure was repeated four months later (Study 2), for a shorter period of time (one day per condition, again using an ABA design) to assess whether the results are generalizable. Analysis of both studies revealed that the elephants spent significantly less of their time stereotyping during the experimental conditions than the control. None of the other behaviors recorded were influenced significantly by auditory stimulation. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that auditory stimulation, in the form of classical music, may be a useful method of reducing stereotypic behavior in zoo-housed Asian elephants, although more long-term work with a larger number of animals is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Influence of music on the growth of koi carp, Cyprinus carpio (Pisces: Cyprindae)

Book

Jan 2005

An experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of music on the growth of Koi Carp (Cyprinus carpio) by subjecting the fish to music. Weekly growth in weight was recorded and used to calculate the growth rate and specific growth rate. The difference in growth between the control and experiment groups of fishes was statistically tested for significance. It was observed that the growth of fish subjected to music was significantly higher.

Early auditory enrichment with music enhances auditory discrimination learning and alters NR2B protein expression in rat auditory cortex

Article

Jan 2009

Previous studies have shown that the functional development of auditory system is substantially influenced by the structure of environmental acoustic inputs in early life. In our present study, we investigated the effects of early auditory enrichment with music on rat auditory discrimination learning. We found that early auditory enrichment with music from postnatal day (PND) 14 enhanced learning ability in auditory signal-detection task and in sound duration-discrimination task. In parallel, a significant increase was noted in NMDA receptor subunit NR2B protein expression in the auditory cortex. Furthermore, we found that auditory enrichment with music starting from PND 28 or 56 did not influence NR2B expression in the auditory cortex. No difference was found in the NR2B expression in the inferior colliculus (IC) between music-exposed and normal rats, regardless of when the auditory enrichment with music was initiated. Our findings suggest that early auditory enrichment with music influences NMDA-mediated neural plasticity, which results in enhanced auditory discrimination learning.

From music-beat to heart-beat: A journey in the complex interactions between music, brain and heart

Article

Aug 2011

Although the potential influence of music in eliciting organic reactions has been appreciated since the ancient Assyrian and Greek cultures, its relationship with body responses has been believed for long to belong to the field of magic. Growing experimental evidence now attests that some kind of music might indeed modulate several cardiac and neurological functions, as well as trigger biochemical measurable stress-reducing effects in certain individuals, mostly depending on their subjective musical education. On this basis, music has been increasingly used as a therapeutic tool in the treatment of different diseases in healthy and ill subjects over recent years (e.g., the so called "Mozart effect"), although the underlying scientific background is still poorly understood. The aim of this article is to review the current scientific evidences about the complex and multifaceted interactions between music and human biology.

Cochrane review: Music interventions for mechanically ventilated patients

Article

Dec 2010

Background: Mechanical ventilation often causes major distress and anxiety in patients. The sensation of breathlessness, frequent suctioning, inability to talk, uncertainty regarding surroundings or condition, discomfort, isolation from others, and fear contribute to high levels of anxiety. Side effects of analgesia and sedation may lead to the prolongation of mechanical ventilation and, subsequently, to a longer length of hospitalization and increased cost. Therefore, non-pharmacological interventions should be considered for anxiety and stress management. Music interventions have been used to reduce anxiety and distress and improve physiological functioning in medical patients; however, their efficacy for mechanically ventilated patients needs to be evaluated. This review was originally published in 2010 and was updated in 2014. Objectives: To update the previously published review that examined the effects of music therapy or music medicine interventions (as defined by the authors) on anxiety and other outcomes in mechanically ventilated patients. Specifically, the following objectives are addressed in this review.1. To conduct a meta-analysis to compare the effects of participation in standard care combined with music therapy or music medicine interventions with standard care alone.2. To compare the effects of patient-selected music with researcher-selected music.3. To compare the effects of different types of music interventions (e.g., music therapy versus music medicine). Search methods: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2014, Issue 2), MEDLINE (1950 to March 2014), CINAHL (1980 to March 2014), EMBASE (1980 to March 2014), PsycINFO (1967 to March 2014), LILACS (1982 to March 2014), Science Citation Index (1980 to March 2014), www.musictherapyworld.net (1 March 2008) (database is no longer functional), CAIRSS for Music (to March 2014), Proquest Digital Dissertations (1980 to March 2014), ClinicalTrials.gov (2000 to March 2014), Current Controlled Trials (1998 to March 2014), the National Research Register (2000 to September 2007), and NIH CRISP (all to March 2014). We handsearched music therapy journals and reference lists, and contacted relevant experts to identify unpublished manuscripts. There was no language restriction. The original search was performed in January 2010. Selection criteria: We included all randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials that compared music interventions and standard care with standard care alone for mechanically ventilated patients. Data collection and analysis: Two review authors independently extracted the data and assessed the methodological quality of included studies. We contacted authors to obtain missing data where needed. Where possible, results for continuous outcomes were presented in meta-analyses using mean differences and standardized mean differences. Post-test scores were used. In cases of significant baseline difference, we used change scores. For dichotomous outcomes, we presented the results as risk ratios. Main results: We identified six new trials for this update. In total, the evidence for this review rests on 14 trials (805 participants). Music listening was the main intervention used, and 13 of the studies did not include a trained music therapist. Results indicated that music listening may be beneficial for anxiety reduction in mechanically ventilated patients. Specifically, music listening resulted, on average, in an anxiety reduction that was 1.11 standard deviation units greater (95% CI -1.75 to -0.47, P = 0.0006) than in the standard care group. This is considered a large and clinically significant effect. Findings indicated that listening to music consistently reduced respiratory rate and systolic blood pressure, suggesting a relaxation response. Furthermore, one large-scale study reported greater reductions in sedative and analgesic intake in the music listening group compared to the control group, and two other studies reported trends for reduction in sedative and analgesic intake for the music group. One study found significantly higher sedation scores in the music listening group compared to the control group.No strong evidence was found for reduction in diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure. Furthermore, inconsistent results were found for reduction in heart rate with seven studies reporting greater heart rate reductions in the music listening group and one study a slightly greater reduction in the control group. Music listening did not improve oxygen saturation levels.Four studies examined the effects of music listening on hormone levels but the results were mixed and no conclusions could be drawn.No strong evidence was found for an effect of music listening on mortality rate but this evidence rested on only two trials.Most trials were assessed to be at high risk of bias because of lack of blinding. Blinding of outcome assessors is often impossible in music therapy and music medicine studies that use subjective outcomes, unless the music intervention is compared to another treatment intervention. Because of the high risk of bias, these results need to be interpreted with caution.No studies could be found that examined the effects of music interventions on quality of life, patient satisfaction, post-discharge outcomes, or cost-effectiveness. No adverse events were identified. Authors' conclusions: This updated systematic review indicates that music listening may have a beneficial effect on anxiety in mechanically ventilated patients. These findings are consistent with the findings of three other Cochrane systematic reviews on the use of music interventions for anxiety reduction in medical patients. The review furthermore suggests that music listening consistently reduces respiratory rate and systolic blood pressure. Finally, results indicate a possible beneficial impact on the consumption of sedatives and analgesics. Therefore, we conclude that music interventions may provide a viable anxiety management option to mechanically ventilated patients.

Effect of different frequencies of music on blood pressure regulation in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Article

Oct 2010

The effect of different frequencies of music on brain function was investigated through measurement of blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Previous studies indicated that exposure to Mozart's music (K. 205) leads to increased calcium/calmodulin-dependent dopamine synthesis in the brain, and that the subsequent increase in dopamine reduces blood pressure via D(2) receptors. The present study demonstrated that the blood pressure-reducing response was dependent on the frequency, and was markedly greater at 4 k-16 kHz compared with lower frequencies. These findings suggest that music containing high-frequency sounds stimulates dopamine synthesis, and might thereby regulate and/or affect various brain functions.

Perinatal exposure to music protects spatial memory against callosal lesions

Article

Oct 2009
INT J DEV NEUROSCI

Several studies have indicated that the exposure of rodents to music modulates brain development and neuroplasticity, by mechanisms that involve facilitated hippocampal neurogenesis, neurotrophin synthesis and glutamatergic signaling. This study focused on the potential protection that the perinatal exposure to music, between postnatal days 2 and 32, could offer against functional deficits induced by neonatal callosotomy in rats. The spontaneous alternation and marble-burying behaviors were longitudinally measured in callosotomized and control rats that had been exposed to music or not. The results indicated that the neonatal callosotomy-induced spontaneous alternation deficits that became apparent only after postnatal day 45, about the time when the rat corpus callosum reaches its maximal levels of myelination. The perinatal exposure to music efficiently protected the spontaneous alternation performance against the deficits induced by callosotomy. The present findings may offer important insights into music-induced neuroplasticity, relevant to brain development and neurorehabilitation.

Effect of Individualized Music on Agitation in Individuals with Dementia Who Live at Home

Article

Sep 2009

This pilot study investigated the effect of individualized music on agitation in individuals with dementia who live at home. Fifteen individuals listened to their preferred music for 30 minutes prior to peak agitation time, two times per week for 2 weeks, followed by no music intervention for 2 weeks. The process was repeated once. The findings showed that mean agitation levels were significantly lower while listening to music than before listening to the music. The findings of this pilot study suggest the importance of music intervention for individuals with dementia who live at home.

Spontaneous Motor Entrainment to Music in Multiple Vocal Mimicking Species

Article

May 2009

The human capacity for music consists of certain core phenomena, including the tendency to entrain, or align movement, to an external auditory pulse [1-3]. This ability, fundamental both for music production and for coordinated dance, has been repeatedly highlighted as uniquely human [4-11]. However, it has recently been hypothesized that entrainment evolved as a by-product of vocal mimicry, generating the strong prediction that only vocal mimicking animals may be able to entrain [12, 13]. Here we provide comparative data demonstrating the existence of two proficient vocal mimicking nonhuman animals (parrots) that entrain to music, spontaneously producing synchronized movements resembling human dance. We also provide an extensive comparative data set from a global video database systematically analyzed for evidence of entrainment in hundreds of species both capable and incapable of vocal mimicry. Despite the higher representation of vocal nonmimics in the database and comparable exposure of mimics and nonmimics to humans and music, only vocal mimics showed evidence of entrainment. We conclude that entrainment is not unique to humans and that the distribution of entrainment across species supports the hypothesis that entrainment evolved as a by-product of selection for vocal mimicry.

Current Advances in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Music

Article

Apr 2009
ANN NY ACAD SCI

The study of music perception and cognition is one of the oldest topics in experimental psychology. The last 20 years have seen an increased interest in understanding the functional neuroanatomy of music processing in humans, using a variety of technologies including fMRI, PET, ERP, MEG, and lesion studies. We review current findings in the context of a rich intellectual history of research, organized by the cognitive systems underlying different aspects of human musical behavior. We pay special attention to the perception of components of musical processing, musical structure, laterality effects, cultural issues, links between music and movement, emotional processing, expertise, and the amusias. Current trends are noted, such as the increased interest in evolutionary origins of music and comparisons of music and language. The review serves to demonstrate the important role that music can play in informing broad theories of higher order cognitive processes such as music in humans.

Effects of Group Music Intervention on Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms in Patients with Dementia: A Pilot-Controlled Trial

Article

Feb 2009

We investigated the effects of group music intervention on behavioral and psychological symptoms in patients with dementia. Twenty patients were nonrandomly allocated to either a music-intervention group, or an usual care group. The music-intervention group received 50 minutes of music intervention 3 times per week for 5 consecutive weeks. After 15 sessions, the music-intervention group showed significant in improvement with regard to agitation, and the total scores of both patients and caregivers were lower, compared with the control group. These findings suggest that music can improve behavioral and psychological symptoms, especially in patients with dementia and their caregivers.

Effect of prenatal auditory stimulation on numerical synaptic density and mean synaptic height in the posthatch Day 1 chick hippocampus

Article

Feb 2009
SYNAPSE

Previous studies on prenatal auditory stimulation by species-specific sound or sitar music showed enhanced morphological and biochemical changes in chick hippocampus, which plays an important role in learning and memory. Changes in the efficiency of synapses, synaptic morphology and de novo synapse formation affects learning and memory. Therefore, in the present study, we set out to investigate the mean synaptic density and mean synaptic height at posthatch Day 1 in dorsal and ventral part of chick hippocampus following prenatal auditory stimulation. Fertilized 0 day eggs of domestic chick incubated under normal conditions were exposed to patterned sounds of species-specific and sitar music at 65 dB levels for 15 min/h round the clock (frequency range: 100-6300 Hz) from embryonic Day 10 till hatching. The synapses identified under transmission electron microscope were estimated for their numerical density by physical disector method and also the mean synaptic height calculated. Our results demonstrate a significant increase in mean synaptic density with no alterations in the mean synaptic height following both types of auditory stimulation in the dorsal as well as ventral part of the hippocampus. The observed increase in mean synaptic density suggests enhanced synaptic substrate to strengthen hippocampal function.

The Effect of Music on Pulse Rate, Blood Pressure and Final Exam Scores of University Students

Article

Oct 1979

B. Everard Blanchard

The effects of control over high intensity noise on plasma Cortisol levels in rhesus monkeys

Article

Apr 1976
Behav Biol

The effects of control over exposure to high intensity noise on plasma cortisol levels and social behaviors were examined in rhesus monkeys. There were four conditions: control over noise, loss of control over noise, no control over noise, and no noise. Plasma cortisol data indicated that animals with control over high intensity noise stimulation did not differ from animals exposed to no noise at all. Plasma cortisol levels were significantly elevated in animals with no control over high intensity noise and in animals experiencing a loss of control over noise. Animals which experienced loss of control over noise showed increased aggressive behavior while animals with no control over noise showed significantly less social contact than other animals.

Evaluation of the Heterophil/Lymphocyte Ratio as a Measure of Stress in Chickens

Article

Oct 1983

The number of lymphocytes in chicken blood samples decreased and the number of heterophils increased in response to stressors and to increasing levels of corticosterone in the chicken feed. The ratio of heterophils to lymphocytes was less variable than the number of heterophil or lymphocyte cells, and the range of values for this ratio was greater than the range of values for heterophils and lymphocytes among control and experimental groups. The heterophil/lymphocyte ratio appears to be a more reliable indicator of levels of corticosterone in the feed and to social stress than were the plasma corticosteroid levels.

Music and Spatial Task Performance

Article

Nov 1993

The physiological and behavioral effects of radio music on singly housed baboons

Article

Nov 1996

The response of four singly caged baboons to radio music was measured using behavioral and physiological indices. Heart rate and blood pressure, measured through a tether system, as well as behavior, were recorded during a two-week period in which radio music was available in half of the samples. The behavior of the subjects, as well as their blood pressure, did not vary in relation to radio music. Heart rate was significantly lower when the radio was on.

The effects of music on animal physiology, behavior and welfare

Abstract

No full-text available

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