Music could be finely-tuned to treat both emotional and physical pain, British scientists believe.
Music is well-known to affect mood – but a new project aims to discover how doctors could create musical "prescriptions" to help patients.
The research at Glasgow Caledonian University is aiming to identify the links between sounds and human moods.
Researchers say they hope to develop computer programs which could help doctors or therapists identify a piece of music to influence an individual’s mood.
Music could be used to improve motivation when exercising or studying – as well as to help relieve pain, they say.
An early study has used volunteers. The scientists say they were able to obtain unreleased modern music and test the reaction of the volunteers to different aspects of the music.
They want to extend their work to examine the impact of lyrics. They have been funded for three years by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Researcher Dr Don Knox, an audio engineering specialist, said: "By making it possible to search for music and organise collections according to emotional content, such programs could fundamentally change the way we interact with music.
"Some online music stores already tag music according to whether a piece is happy or sad. Our project is refining this approach and giving it a firm scientific foundation, unlocking all kinds of possibilities and opportunities as a result."
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