Studying to the Sound of Music
You have probably heard stories about surgeons listening to music by artists such as Taylor Swift while in the operating room, but could listening to music also have a positive effect on students while they are undergoing their clinical training?
Listening to music is often used by students in order to lower stress and enhance focus while studying. For students in professional school, lots of their education comes from hands-on experience in labs in order to learn the necessary procedures for their field. Felszeghy et al., (2023) looked at the effect of music on dental students in their third year who were in the process of learning many important dental procedures. Dental school, like any professional school, places extreme stress on students, especially while learning clinical skills, which greatly contributes to the mental health issues that often weigh on students. Using music in the lab has the potential to help students handle the stressful environment of professional school and improve their learning of clinical procedures.
Felszeghy et al., (2023) found previous research that showed increased performance by surgeons while listening to music, however they found very little research on the effect of music on clinical training, which is what they then set out to investigate. The study included 24 third year dental students who were then split into two groups. Group 1 listened to slow and calm background music while working in the lab and group 2 did not listen to music in the lab and just worked with the general lab background noise. The researchers recorded the time it took each student to perform a cavity preparation and also analyzed the teeth after the procedure.
The researchers also had the students complete surveys which asked their thoughts on the use of music in the lab and how music made them feel while working. Felszeghy et al., (2023) found that 50% of the students felt that listening to music in the lab lowered their stress levels while preparing teeth for procedures and 68% found that it lowered their stress levels while performing the cavity restoration procedure. The students all felt that listening to music helped them regulate their mood and emotions which is an integral part to successfully learning and completing a procedure in a high pressure environment. Many of the students also said that being in a learning environment with music makes it easier to listen to and implement constructive criticism from their instructors.
In terms of the quality of the procedures, Felszeghy et al., (2023) found that students who listened to music in the lab improved more between their first and second attempts at the procedure compared to students who worked with the normal background noise. They also found that students who listened to music were able to complete a higher quality cavity restoration in a shorter period of time by comparing the occlusal area and depth of the cavities between the two groups.
Overall, the study found that listening to calming background music while learning clinical skills improved the ability of the students to both learn and perform in a stressful environment. This was connected to music being used to calm patients who are in a stressful environment, so it would make sense that there would be a similar outcome for healthcare professionals themselves. With professional schools such as dental school becoming more and more competitive and increasing numbers of mental health crises among students, music could become a valuable tool if implemented in more labs. However, the article does want to continue this research by including more dental students in order to see the effects of music in different populations of students. Additionally, while music has been deemed successful in this study, they also want to investigate the type of music used in order to see if other genres also have a positive effect on learning and stress.
For now, the next time you find yourself struggling in your college lab courses, you may want to consider asking your TA to turn on some calming background music. Both your lab partners and grade will thank you.
Source:
Felszeghy, S., Liukkonen, M., Tornero, C. S., Auvinen, O. M., Hämäläinen, K., Banafa, A., & Kurki, P. (2023). Influence of background music on stress reduction and impact on performances during students’ simulation exercises. Journal of Dental Education, 87(8), 1170–1179. https://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.13235
