In the sterile hum of a hospital recovery room, where machines beep and monitors glow, it might be hard to imagine the soft strum of a ukulele cutting through the noise. But for nurse Rod Salaysay at UC San Diego Health, music is as essential as medicine. Between administering medications and checking vital signs, he reaches for his guitar, offering patients more than comfort — he offers connection.
Salaysay has seen firsthand how a few chords can ease the tension that lingers after surgery. Some patients smile, others hum along, and a few even need less pain medication afterward. “There’s often a cycle of worry, pain, anxiety in a hospital,” he says. “But you can help break that cycle with music.”
He’s not alone in believing that. Over the past two decades, a quiet revolution has been happening in hospitals and clinics: music therapy is stepping out of the realm of intuition and into the evidence-based world of modern medicine.
When Science Meets Song
For centuries, people have instinctively turned to music in moments of suffering or joy. But only recently have scientists begun to understand why it works. The technical term — music-induced analgesia — might sound clinical, but its impact is profoundly human.
Recent studies published in Pain and Scientific Reports suggest that listening to music can reduce the perception of pain and increase tolerance for it. Not just any music, though — the magic seems to happen when people listen to songs they love, actively and intentionally.
“Pain is a really complex experience,” explains psychologist Adam Hanley of Florida State University. It’s not just a physical signal but an emotional and cognitive one, filtered through memory, mood, and mindset. When music activates the brain’s reward centers and emotional circuits, it can literally change how pain is processed. The melody distracts, the rhythm soothes, and the familiarity empowers.
As Dr. Gilbert Chandler, a spinal pain specialist, puts it: “Pain is interpreted and translated by the brain.” And music, in its mysterious way, helps the brain rewrite that translation.
The Power of Choice
One of the most striking findings in recent research is that who chooses the music matters just as much as what music is played. In one study from Erasmus University Rotterdam, participants who listened to their favorite genres — whether classical, pop, or electronic — were able to tolerate more discomfort than those who didn’t.
That personal choice is key. “It gives people agency,” says Claire Howlin of Trinity College Dublin. For patients managing chronic pain, regaining even small forms of control can be transformative. Choosing a playlist becomes more than entertainment; it becomes a form of self-care.
Active listening, too, deepens the effect. Focusing intently on music — noticing the harmonies, following the lyrics, feeling the rhythm — engages multiple regions of the brain, offering what Hanley calls a “positive emotional bump.” In a setting where so much is dictated by charts and schedules, this kind of immersion is both rare and healing.
More Than Distraction
Skeptics might dismiss the healing power of music as a placebo — a pleasant distraction. But researchers argue that it’s more than that. When music lights up the brain’s emotional and sensory networks, it reduces stress hormones, boosts dopamine, and even lowers blood pressure. In other words, the body feels the music.
For Salaysay, those changes show up not in lab data but in faces. “You can see their shoulders relax, their breathing slow down,” he says. “Sometimes that’s the first real rest they’ve had since surgery.”
A Universal Language of Healing
Jazz singer Cecily Gardner, who used music to endure her own illness, describes it perfectly: “Music reduces stress, fosters community, and just transports you to a better place.”
That transport — from fear to peace, from pain to presence — is at the heart of why music belongs in medicine. It’s not a replacement for treatment, but a reminder that healing isn’t only about curing; it’s about caring. It’s about meeting people where they are, whether that’s with a stethoscope or a song.
As hospitals increasingly embrace holistic care, the future might look a little more melodic. Somewhere between the heart monitor’s rhythm and a nurse’s quiet guitar, science and soul are finding harmony.
Read More: How listening to music may help ease pain from surgery or illness | AP News
