MEDICINE@BROWN: Soothing Sounds

A study by a group of Warren Alpert medical students that found music therapy can lessen pain and other symptoms during infusion treatments will be among the oral presentations featured at a hospice and palliative care conference in Denver in February.

Ishaani Khatri '21 MD'25, Claire Lin '23 MD'27, and Diana A. Wang MD'27 offered about 50 study participants the chance to listen to music while receiving treatment at The Miriam Hospital. Participants reported fewer negative side effects, and said they felt better overall.
When it comes to managing pain and side effects from treatment, there is a tendency to be focused on clinical treatments, Lin says. However, these don’t address certain underlying stressors.

“Alternative treatments like music and the arts that focus on full-patient wellness are so important, and we truly got to see that through this project,” she says.

For the study, the students gave patients an iPad with headphones to listen to music of their choice for 30 minutes while receiving treatment, and then tracked different metrics like heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. A qualitative and quantitative analysis revealed significant decreases in pain, tiredness, nausea, anxiety, and shortness of breath, along with a demonstrable increase in feelings of well-being.

Khatri says her interest in music therapy can be traced back to 2019 when, as a junior, she volunteered to play piano as part of an initiative at a local cancer center. The use of music as a therapeutic tool has received greater attention in recent years, but Khatri says that what would be considered “classically comforting music” would be the same as classical music, generally.

“If you ask people for requests, people more often than not request things like Broadway tunes or other music, rather than requests for things like Chopin and Bach,” she says. “It got me thinking about what brings people joy in regard to music, and how it would be lovely to provide patients with an experience that gives them peace and relaxation.”

The students say they opted to offer participants a greater degree of control after examining similar studies.

“What was special about this project was that we were focused on personalized music,” Wang says. “There has been a big shift in where research in music has gone, and I think we look at things like rock and higher-energy music as not being calming. We were surprised that the majority of the factors were significantly improved after only 30 minutes, and to see the same effects across different music was a big finding.”

Lin notes that the patient reflections and testimonials collected at the study’s conclusion demonstrated the importance of emotional connections during what can be stressful treatments.

“The biggest concept that stood out to me was the idea of ‘escape,’” Lin says. “We didn’t realize how easily listening through headphones could bring people back to other places and times. It would make them feel like they weren’t in the infusion room and make time go faster, make them less sad, or even less anxious.”

The three students have met with administrators at The Miriam to discuss incorporating music therapy for all patients in the infusion center, perhaps with the help of volunteers. Lin and Wang also presented their findings at the 2025 Annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care in early February, and the trio celebrated receiving an Early Career/Professionals in Training Scientific Research Podium Award at the event.

“It has been great to work with two all-star medical students,” Khatri says. “To even be selected for an oral presentation is very exciting and we’re in the process of working on a manuscript to be published in Palliative Medicine.”

The study was funded in part by the Barbara Rosen Endowment for the Enhancement of Humanistic Patient Care and the Petersen Educational Enhancement Fund.