Relationships Between Several Structural Features Of Symphonic Music And The Emotional And Physiological Responses Of Hypertensive Patients

Symphonic music is an eternal source of delight and a wellspring of emotions and feelings. Beethoven said: “Music is a revelation higher than any reason and philosophy”, because it gives us the opportunity to reflect on it, to merge with ideas and feelings turned into sounds. The influence of symphonic music on the cardiovascular system is very complex, because this system responds with changes in heart rate and blood pressure even when less intense emotions are felt This experimental study investigated the effects of different types of symphonic music on the physiological and emotional responses of hypertensive patients comparative with healthy people. Clients listened contrasting symphonic musical excerpts, which were selected to express different emotions and feelings. Physiological variables (systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse-rate, ECG, rate of breathing and oxygen saturation) were recorded for twenty minutes before listening to music and during audition with Vital Signs Monitor Compact 5. Emotional responses were evaluated by a positive and negative mood states scale before and after each musical fragment. This questionnaire has been made, applied and validated from me in a previous study. The initial emotional distress was evaluated with HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). The basic personality traits were evaluated with the Zuckerman – Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire ( Romanian version ) used with the agreement of SC Cognitrom SRL The research groups ( 124 hypertensive patients in the experimental group and 124 healthy subjects in the control group ) were similar in what concerns the age, the sex repartition and the intellectual level (medium / high), as well as the low usage of symphonic music. The results of this study demonstrated that the physiological responses to music depend on a series of variables, such as: music features (such as rhythm, tonality, timbre ), musical preferences, the emotional state and the personality traits of the listeners. This study shows that is very important in musical excerpts selections for music therapy to take into account not only the structural features of the music, but also the psychological factors mentioned above.