Acute effects of auditory stimulation with heavy metal music on heart rate responses

Abstract

Aim. Investigate the acute effects of heavy metal musical auditory stimulation on cardiac autonomic regulation. Material and methods. This is a prospective study conducted on 22 healthy women between 18 and 30 years old. All procedures were performed in the same soundproof room. The volunteers remained at rest for 20 minutes and subsequently were exposed to heavy metal (75-84 dB) music for 20 minutes. We analysed the following HRV indices: SDNN, RMSSD, pNN50, LF, HF and LF/HF ratio, RRTri, TINN, SD1, SD2 and SD1/SD2 ratio. Results. During exposure to heavy metal music auditory stimulation we observed that the LF (ms2) tended to increase (p=0,06) and reduce HF (nu) (p=0,07) and the LF/HF ratio increased (p=0,05). No significant changes were found for SDNN, pNN50, RMSSD, SDNN/RMSSD ratio, TINN, RRTri, SD1, SD2 and SD1/SD2 ratio. Conclusion. Auditory stimulation with the selected heavy metal musical style acutely decreased HRV.