Music presentation modulates metabolic and physiologic condition of patients in the ICU

The embodied brain is highly dynamic, changing with every thought, sensory input and motor activity. It keeps us coherent and healthy via its connections to every organ within the body, particularly the heart, which in turn supplies nutrients and oxygen to all bodily organs and the brain. Listening to music can instantly alter brain-body dynamics. Yet, the acoustic, neural, and physiologic parameters and processes that facilitate these effects are not well understood. Here, we tested the hypothesis that a custom music composition can promote healing in patients recovering from liver transplant surgery within an intensive care unit (ICU). The music presented consisted of custom,15-minute music sets curated and recorded by an experienced medical musician. We obtained cortisol samples from saliva samples [~]15 minutes before and after music presentation and captured autonomic activity by recording electrocardiography for 5 minutes before, during, and 5 minutes after music presentation in normal subjects and patients. Discriminant analysis showed a significant decrease in cortisol production (n = 17) after music presentation. Detailed analysis in a single patient showed significant changes in multiple cardiac parameters, including heart-rate variability (HRV). Multidimensional scaling of twenty-five parameters related to HRV in a patient mapped all five instances of the music presentation condition outside of the mixed cluster of baseline conditions before and after music presentation. Our results show that listening to music promotes homeostasis in ICU patients by transiently shifting physiological parameters towards a state of recovery that may stabilize over time.