Does listening to music reduce anxiety before surgery?

Bottom Line

This systematic review indicates that music listening may have a beneficial effect on preoperative anxiety. Specifically, music listening resulted, on average, in an anxiety reduction that was 5.72 units greater (95% confidence interval (CI) -7.27 to -4.17, P < 0.00001) than that in the standard care group as measured by the Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S), and -0.60 standardized units (95% CI -0.90 to -0.31, P < 0.0001) on other anxiety scales. (S1)

This review did not report a GRADE certainty rating.

The registry also contains 5 later systematic reviews or guidelines on this question (latest 2025). They are not summarised here; see the full list in Research Rail.

Sources

1. S1 Music interventions for preoperative anxiety. Bradt J, Dileo C, Shim M · 2013 Jun 6 · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · Systematic review / meta-analysis

This report screened 50 items (45 research or guidance records, 5 community posts); the full list is available in Research Rail.