Can sounds dull pain?

If you've ever thought that a favorite song made you feel better, new scientific evidence shows that it's not just your imagination.

In fact, it's not just music that has an analgesic, or pain-relieving, effect. Researchers have found that many kinds of sounds and noises can help, if played at the right volume.

Music therapy has been used for decades to help manage pain after surgery, during labor and delivery, and during cancer treatment.

But why this happens is not entirely clear. Some theories suggest that the pain-relieving effect of the sound is psychological, meaning that it calms or distracts people from pain.

A paper published in the journal Science may shed light on the inner workings of the brain, revealing the circuitry behind this analgesic effect.

 "The relative intensity of sound may play a role in reducing pain. Low-intensity sound can inactivate the audio-somatosensory pathway and thereby activate the somatosensory thalamus," explains study co-author Dr. Yuanyuan Liu, a researcher in sensory biology and pain at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

This means that noise played at a low volume dulls activity in the areas of the brain responsible for pain signals.

In the study, scientists injected mice with a solution that caused discomfort in their paw. They then turned on different sounds of varying intensity, from pleasant music to white noise, and observed changes in the rodents' behavior.

What they saw, Liu said, indicated that the sounds "reduced reflexive paw pulling and aversion to painful stimuli, indicators of analgesia in rodents." In other words, the sounds were found to help reduce pain in mice.

According to the researchers, the ideal volume for pain reduction was only 5 decibels higher than room noise.

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