Researchers have found that music can meaningfully reduce how people experience pain, according to a recent study published in Scientific Reports. The team reported that listening to music can even lessen patients’ reliance on pain medication across both acute and chronic conditions.

“Pain is a really complex experience,” Florida State University psychologist Adam Hanley told the Associated Press. “It’s created by a physical sensation, and by our thoughts about that sensation and emotional reaction to it.”

That mind-body interplay is central to why music seems to help. A separate study published in the journal Pain found that music can improve people’s ability to cope with discomfort, and sometimes even perceive it as less intense. Another experiment from Erasmus University Rotterdam, involving 548 volunteers exposed to extremely cold temperatures, showed that listening to pop, classical, rock, urban, or electronic music increased participants’ pain tolerance.

“The more people listened to a favorite genre, the more they could endure pain,” said Dr. Emy van der Valk Bouman, co-author of the study. “A lot of people thought that classical music would help them more. Actually, we are finding more evidence that what’s best is just the music you like.”

Across these studies, a clear pattern emerges: patients benefit most when they choose the music themselves and focus on it intentionally, rather than treating it as background sound.

Clinicians report similar observations. At UC San Diego Health, nurse Rod Salaysay brings a guitar or ukulele into the recovery unit and plays songs that patients request. As they listen, Salaysay has tracked noticeable physiological shifts. Many patients see drops in blood pressure and heart rate, and some report needing fewer painkillers afterward.

The approach has deep roots. Music’s role in pain management dates back centuries, according to McGill University Newsroom, including cases of patients using it to reduce discomfort during dental procedures before local anesthesia existed in the 19th century. Today’s research is taking that further, using new methods to measure, reinterpret, and extend long-observed links between music and pain perception.

As the evidence builds, one conclusion stands out: pain relief doesn’t hinge solely on pharmaceuticals. Music may play a meaningful and measurable role in how patients manage pain today.