Music as medicine

Integrating eclectic interests in latest research, Sean Young finds that mindfully listening to jazz reduces pain.

Sean Young’s myriad interests and areas of study never seemed to have a common theme.

“People keep telling me to focus on something,” he lamented to his grandmother at one point. She advised him to keep doing what he loves, searching for ways to make an impact, and the dots would connect. Young’s recent research showing a link between listening to jazz and a reduction of chronic pain has proved his grandmother correct.

Who else but a UC Irvine professor of informatics and emergency medicine who grew up in Newport Beach and was influenced by Orange County’s music scene could meld these disparate pursuits? Young studied ethnomusicology at UCLA and worked in the music industry. He earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford University and has spent the past 15 years exploring digital health, artificial intelligence and how those topics intersect with public health.

“It feels amazing to be able to integrate my background in music and the music industry with my academic career in technology and medicine,” Young says of his latest work. “There’s something about music. You can talk to anyone. It’s a nice way of connecting with people.”

His groundbreaking study, “Mindful Jazz and Preferred Music Interventions Reduce Pain Among Patients with Chronic Pain and Anxiety: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial,” set out to determine whether listening to jazz – with its unpredictable nature – could make people more comfortable with the unpredictability of life. Mindfulness practices have been shown to reduce anxiety and stress, but many people in pain can’t or won’t sit and breathe mindfully for an hour.

“This research is novel in many ways,” Young says. “It provides a new way to leverage science on mindfulness, it teaches people to listen to jazz the way the musician experiences it, and it teaches people to listen to music and be truly present.”

The results showed a significant decrease in pain and anxiety for those who mindfully listened to jazz, which could lead to a reduction in opioids for patients. “I’m interested in understanding how sound can affect health,” Young says. “We could see a future where certain components of sound or music are being prescribed to patients.”

Read the full story on UC Irvine News.