Effect of Piped Music on Anxiety - Study and Analysis

Running head: EFFECT OF PIPED MUSIC ON ANXIETY
Effect of piped music on anxiety
Name of the Student
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1EFFECT OF PIPED MUSIC ON ANXIETY
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Literature review and hypothesis.....................................................................................................2
Research questions.......................................................................................................................4
Research hypothesis.....................................................................................................................4
Methodology....................................................................................................................................4
Philosophy of the research...........................................................................................................4
Design of the research.................................................................................................................5
Approach of the research.............................................................................................................6
Strategy of the research...............................................................................................................6
Target population.........................................................................................................................6
Sample size..................................................................................................................................6
Process of data collection............................................................................................................6
Data analysis................................................................................................................................7
Research rigour and anticipated limitations................................................................................7
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................8

2EFFECT OF PIPED MUSIC ON ANXIETY
Introduction
The purpose of this research is to highlight the fact that whether any kind of piped music
can help to fight anxiety disorder of the patients or it does not. In this research, the research
scholar presents detailed study, which he conducted on the patients of a psychotherapist who
asked him to conduct a social research on this issue on her patients waiting for consultation in
the reception hall. It has been suggested from the ages that listening to music can positively
impact on the psychological state of people as it is believed that the sound of piped music can
effectively reduce the stress factors (Hsu, Chen & Hsiep, 2016). As the psychotherapist has
invited the research scholar to conduct a study in her reception hall, the researcher decided to
study approximately 25 patients of the therapist and they will be exposed to a standard stress test
after conditioning their mind with some sort of piped music for half an hour. In this paper,
various relevant literature and theories will be studied and then relevant stress tests will be
performed. Primary data will be collected and analyzed in order to disclose the results.
Literature review and hypothesis
It has been widely believed that light soothing music, especially music of piped
instruments can significantly help to reduce any kind of stress and the social research conducted
by the research scholar in the reception of a psychotherapist is to justify the reliability of this
idea (Gan, Lim & Haw, 2016). This literature provides a limited number of investigations done
by the researcher and provides a hypothesis that is yet to be proved. As the sample size is smaller
and the patients of the psychotherapists come with various types of psychological disorders, the
results of the test might have some shortcomings. When the researcher exposed 25 male and
female patients to the stress test after conditioning their brain with soft piped music for more

3EFFECT OF PIPED MUSIC ON ANXIETY
than half an hour, the salivary cortisol, heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, subjective anxiety
and perception of stress is assessed and recorded for the research work. Later, the researcher
again asked the respondents to go through the stress test without prior listening to any piped
music or any kinds of music. It has been seen that the new test results did not significantly vary
from the results which were taken earlier after conditioning the patients with the piped music.
For very few of the patients the test results changed in a significant manner ( Hole et al., 2015).
Apart from the stress test, the research scholar took interview of the patients and also distributed
a questionnaire to them so that they can give their views and that would help the researcher to
come to a conclusion. According to Chang (2015), it can be said that the root of the anxiety
disorder of the patients are the determining factors whether the music of piped instrument can
lower the stress factors or not. Thus it can be said that effectiveness off the piped music in
reducing stress is strictly case specific and no one can draw a proper conclusion with a compact
result for this case. It is widely known that music can help to initiate the multitude of cognitive
process of the brain and also can influence processes which are strictly stress related. On the
other hand, according to Gallego and García (2017), it is also believed that listening to piped
music can majorly influence the cognitive processes which are related to stress and the previous
stress test taken by the researcher concluded that piped music can at times lowers the perceived
stress and anxiety which are related to anxiety and stress (Simavli et al., 2014). In this regard, it
can be said that listening to piped music somehow alters the level of relaxation in the minds of
the respondents under the stressful context. It is also seen that listening to any kind relaxing
soothing of music can o some extent trigger the level of activity of the parts of brain which takes
active parts in modulating the level of anxiety in the human brain. It can also be said that the
inadequacy of the study in this context and the lack of respondents can reduce the accuracy of