Music-Induced Analgesia in the Brain

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 

Music, ubiquitous in human cultures across history, plays a crucial role in various therapeutic contexts, including stress relief, pain management, and mental health interventions (Blood, A. J., & Zatorre, R. J., 2001; Koelsch, S. 2009). As one of the well-established methods of pain relief, music holds therapeutic potential for managing pain. Music-induced analgesia (MIA), the subjective reduction of pain perception after listening to music, has been reported not only in healthy individuals (Roy, M. et al., 2008) but also in those with chronic pain conditions, such as low back pain, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia (Pando-Naude, V. et al., 2019). Previous research has demonstrated that self-selected or personally preferred music is particularly effective in enhancing this MIA effect (Lunde, S. J. et al., 2019), suggesting musical pleasure may play a crucial role in mediating the effects of music on pain reduction. In this study, we investigate the role of musical pleasure in MIA and its brain correlates, aiming to uncover how pleasurable music modulates pain.