Music News

December 5, 2023

Top Headlines

A Study Unveils the Link Between Musical Preferences and Our Inner Moral Compass

Nov. 29, 2023 — A new study provides compelling evidence that music preferences can serve as a window into an individual's moral values. It has uncovered an important link between music and morality, paving the way ...

Where Is the Love? Musical Recognition Crosses Cultures — With an Exception

Sep. 7, 2023 — Music can take on many forms in cultures across the globe, but researchers have found in a new study that some themes are universally recognizable by people everywhere with one notable exception -- ...

Hard-of-Hearing Music Fans Prefer a Different Sound

Aug. 22, 2023 — Researchers study the impact of hearing loss on subjects' enjoyment of different music mixes. They played different music mixes to listeners with and without hearing loss and found that those with hearing loss preferred louder lead vocals, higher ...

Brain Recordings Capture Musicality of Speech -- With Help from Pink Floyd

Aug. 15, 2023 — For those with neurological or developmental disorders compromising speech, brain machine interfaces could help them communicate. But today's interfaces are slow and, from electrodes placed on the scalp, can detect letters only. The speech generated ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:02pm EST

Baby Opera: Study Finds Babies Get a Kick out of Live Music

July 14, 2023 — Study findings suggest that even babies feel the impact of being at a live show, through both musicians' interactions with an audience and the social experience of being in a ...

Combining Maths With Music Leads to Higher Scores, Suggests Review of 50 Years of Research

June 29, 2023 — Children do better at maths when music is a key part of their lessons, an analysis of almost 50 years of research on the topic has ...

Joyful Music Could Be a Game Changer for Virtual Reality Headaches

May 2, 2023 — Listening to music could reduce the dizziness, nausea and headaches virtual reality users might experience after using digital devices, research suggests. Cybersickness -- a type of motion sickness ...

Speaking a Tonal Language Could Boost Your Melodic Ability, but at the Cost of Rhythm

Apr. 26, 2023 — Your native language could impact your musical ability. A global study that compared the melodic and rhythmic abilities of almost half a million ...

Lead Vocal Tracks in Popular Music Go Quiet

Apr. 25, 2023 — Scientists carried out an analysis of hundreds of popular song recordings from 1946 to 2020 to determine the lead vocal to accompaniment ratio, or LAR. The study considered the four highest-ranked ...

Music for Sleeping and Music for Studying Share Surprising Similarities

Apr. 20, 2023 — A recent study on Spotify data reveals which types of music are used to help listeners focus while studying and fall ...

How Music Can Prevent Cognitive Decline

Apr. 17, 2023 — Normal aging is associated with progressive cognitive decline. But can we train our brain to delay this process? A team has discovered that practicing and listening to music can alter cognitive ...

New Research Shows How Cultural Transmission Shapes the Evolution of Music

Mar. 23, 2023 — New research has found that constraints in the way our brains work can shape the way people interact when creating music, influencing its ...

Turn Up Your Favorite Song to Improve Medication Efficacy

Mar. 22, 2023 — While listening to a favorite song is a known mood booster, researchers have discovered that music-listening interventions also can make medicines more ...

The Mozart Effect Myth: Listening to Music Does Not Help Against Epilepsy

Mar. 6, 2023 — Over the past fifty years, there have been remarkable claims about the effects of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music. Reports about alleged symptom-alleviating effects of listening to Mozart's Sonata ...

Earlier Headlines

Summaries
Headlines

Music Education Benefits Youth Wellbeing

Jan. 18, 2023 — A new study demonstrates the benefits of music education to adolescent health and ...

Singing Supports Stroke Rehabilitation

Dec. 29, 2022 — Language function and the psychosocial wellbeing of patients and their families can be promoted with singing-based rehabilitation. Group intervention provides opportunities for peer support while ...

Playing the Piano Boosts Brain Processing Power and Helps Lift the Blues

Dec. 2, 2022 — A randomized control trial led by psychologists shows the positive effects learning to play music for just a few weeks has on cognitive ...

Rats Bop to the Beat

Nov. 11, 2022 — Accurately moving to a musical beat was thought to be a skill innately unique to humans. However, new research now shows that rats also have this ability. The optimal tempo for nodding along was ...

Want to Fire Up the Dance Floor? Play Low-Frequency Bass

Nov. 7, 2022 — To find out how different aspects of music influence the body, researchers turned a live electronic music concert into a lab study. By introducing levels of bass over speakers that were too low to ...

Sensitivity to Musical Rhythm Supports Social Development in Infants

Nov. 2, 2022 — Engaging infants with a song provides a ready-made means for supporting social development and interaction, according to a new ...

Music Class in Sync With Higher Math Scores -- But Only at Higher-Income Schools

Oct. 27, 2022 — Music and arts classes are often first on the chopping block when schools face tight budgets and pressure to achieve high scores on standardized tests. But it's precisely those classes that can ...

Study Sheds Light on How Songs, Movies and Memories Shape How People Enjoy Lighthearted Entertainment

Oct. 25, 2022 — A new study played song and movie clips both recent and from their adolescence for subjects and asked if they had memories associated with them. Results showed people had more memories associated ...

Treble Clef Treatment: Music to Counter Delirium in Mechanically Ventilated Older Adults in the ICU

Sep. 12, 2022 — Researcher-clinicians are conducting a multi-site study to establish that music intervention can reduce the likelihood of critically ill, mechanically ventilated older adults in a hospital intensive ...

Music Helps Patients With Dementia Connect With Loved Ones

Aug. 29, 2022 — People with dementia often lose their ability to communicate verbally with loved ones. But a new study shows how that gap can be bridged with a new music intervention. Music memories remain in the ...

Musical Tests Can Detect Mental Deterioration in Old Age

Aug. 17, 2022 — Researchers have developed a method that employs musical tests and a portable instrument for measuring brain activity to detect cognitive decline in old ...

Perceived Choice in Music Listening Is Linked to Pain Relief

Aug. 3, 2022 — A new study explores the use of music-listening to relieve acute pain, finding that people who were given the impression that they had control over the music they heard experienced more pain relief ...

Music Is Key to Converting Consumers' Good Intentions to Actual Purchases in Ethical and Sustainable Markets

June 29, 2022 — Companies selling ethical and sustainable products should use up-tempo major mode music in their marketing to help well-meaning consumers convert their good intentions into actual purchases, new ...

Turn Up the Beat! Groovy Rhythm Improves Cognitive Performance in Groove Enjoyers

May 27, 2022 — Researchers found that music with a groove can enhance executive function and brain activity in relevant brain regions. However, this effect was only observed in individuals who reported that the ...

Research Shows the Role Empathy May Play in Music

May 11, 2022 — Can people who understand the emotions of others better interpret emotions conveyed through music? A new study by an international team of researchers suggests the abilities are ...

'I Know This Song!' Evolutionary Keys to Musical Perception

Apr. 25, 2022 — When we hear a song that we already know, we can identify it even if it is not an exact version of the original. If it sounds higher or lower, faster or slower, or if the instruments are different ...

What Do You See When You Listen to Music?

Apr. 13, 2022 — Music isn't a truly universal language, it turns out. A team of researchers has found that culture and background influence what we visualize when we listen to instrumental music we've ...

Music Combined With Auditory Beat Stimulation May Reduce Anxiety for Some

Mar. 9, 2022 — Treatments integrating music and auditory beat stimulation are effective in reducing state anxiety in some patients, according to a new ...

Disliking Music: What’s the Point?

Feb. 22, 2022 — So, a metal head shows up at a techno party... pretty unlikely, right? Right. Disliking certain kinds of music is just as constitutive of personal taste as is liking other kinds; and because it ...

Singing in the Brain

Feb. 22, 2022 — For the first time, neuroscientists have identified a population of neurons in the human brain that light up when we hear singing, but not other types of ...

Wednesday, January 18, 2023