The Relaxation Effect of Music and Natural Sounds

ABSTRACT

With the spread of the coronavirus infection in Japan, the suicide rate has increased. So, we thought that we want to take care of people's mental health by using music. In previous studies, they showed that music included 1/f frequency influence the state of mind relaxing. On the other hand, there are reports that the natural sounds induce the state of relaxing. In this study, we investigated whether the reminiscence of scenes by natural sounds can work on the central nervous system and bring about a relaxing effect, and whether a synergistic effect can be observed by working together with the autonomic nervous system. Headphones and a questionnaire were also used. Twelve young male and female were recruited as subjects. The results showed that most of the subjects had a good impression of music, nature sounds and their mixtures. The results for music and nature sounds were mixed, but most of the subjects had a good impression of the blended sounds. The effect on relaxation, as measured by the questionnaire, was better after listening to the music than before in all conditions. In all conditions, there was a greater improvement in relaxation after listening to the music than before, and the degree of improvement was as follows mixture > nature sounds > music. Although there was no statistical superiority, it was possible to show this trend. This suggests that there may be a synergistic effect of mixing music, which affects the autonomic nervous system, with nature sounds, which affect the central nervous system. © 2022 IEEE.