Cardiac response to live music performance
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Effect of Musical Changes and Transitions in Live Music Performance on Cardiac Electrophysiology as Quantified in Patients with Biventricular Pacemakers or ICDs
IRAS ID
242471
Contact name
Elaine Chew
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
The research project explores the connections between music and electric activity of the heart with the aim to understand the pathways that affect mood and heart rhythm. Strong emotions and mental stress have been linked to abnormal heart rhythms that in some people can be dangerous. However, the mechanisms by which emotions destabilise heart electrical activity and cause these abnormal heart rhythms are not well understood. Music induces strong emotions especially at moments of change or transition through violating or fulfilling expectations. These strong emotions can sometimes be associated with tension (stress) or pleasure. We will monitor cardiac changes during live music performance, particularly during these moments of change or transitions, to better understand the interactions between emotion responses and heart rhythm.
We will invite patients, identified primarily through the Barts Heart Centre, who are fitted with intra-cardiac devices (biventricular pacemakers or biventricular ICDs) to a short classical concert. Participants will hear a live performance of Paul Schoenfield’s Café Music for a piano trio. The piece is in three contrasting movements which themselves contain many changes. Before the performance, participants will complete a questionnaire that assesses their musical sophistication, and their pacemaker/ICD will be set to a normal rate. While participants are listening to the music, we will record the electrical signals from their pacemaker or ICD and their breathing rate from a respiration belt round their chest. Following the performance, participants will be asked to rate the emotions and tension (stress) levels they felt during the performance as well as moments of change or transition in the music. We will analyse the changes to the patients’ electrical heart signals in response to moments of musical change and transitions. The results will be published in peer-reviewed academic journals and conferences, and on the web and social media.
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0231
Date of REC Opinion
23 Apr 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion