An Exploratory Study on the Acoustic Musical Properties to Decrease Self-Perceived Anxiety

Emilia Parada-Cabaleiro, Anton Batliner and Markus Schedl
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Emilia Parada-Cabaleiro: Multimedia Mining and Search Group, Institute of Computational Perception, Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), 4040 Linz, Austria
Anton Batliner: Embedded Intelligence for Health Care and Wellbeing, University of Augsburg, 86159 Augsburg, Germany
Markus Schedl: Multimedia Mining and Search Group, Institute of Computational Perception, Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), 4040 Linz, Austria

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Musical listening is broadly used as an inexpensive and safe method to reduce self-perceived anxiety. This strategy is based on the emotivist assumption claiming that emotions are not only recognised in music but induced by it. Yet, the acoustic properties of musical work capable of reducing anxiety are still under-researched. To fill this gap, we explore whether the acoustic parameters relevant in music emotion recognition are also suitable to identify music with relaxing properties. As an anxiety indicator, the positive statements from the six-item Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory , a self-reported score from 3 to 12, are taken. A user-study with 50 participants assessing the relaxing potential of four musical pieces was conducted; subsequently, the acoustic parameters were evaluated. Our study shows that when using classical Western music to reduce self-perceived anxiety, tonal music should be considered. In addition, it also indicates that harmonicity is a suitable indicator of relaxing music, while the role of scoring and dynamics in reducing non-pathological listener distress should be further investigated.

Keywords: music psychology; audio features; self-report; signal processing; induced distress; every-day anxiety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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