Patients who are treated with music therapy during their hospitalization are more likely to report satisfaction during hospitalization, according to a study by Lake Health. Patients report better experience at the hospital as they report less pain and increased feelings of calmness. Music has been found to help patients diagnosed with cancer and those who suffer from memory loss or dementia.

“Clinical studies have demonstrated music is powerful medicine; however, little was previously known about the effects of music therapy on patient satisfaction," Susan E. Mandel, a board-certified music therapist who is also the study’s principal investigator, says. She adds that the recent findings have confirmed that using music as part of treatment can enhance the quality of care in patients. The enhanced care has been reported to be effective in increasing patients’ satisfaction while in the hospital.

The two-year study recruited 200 patients between the ages of 30 and 89 years who were receiving medical care in two medical centers. The patients received 15-30 minute music therapy sessions in their rooms given by a board-certified music therapist. They also received specific interventions based on their needs such as music for relaxation, listening, diversion, drawing, lyric analysis, memory sharing, or therapeutic singing and/or verbal processing, the Star Beacon reports.

Then, the researchers measured satisfaction among patients who received musical treatment and those who did not. Finally, they were asked questions selected from the Hospital Survey to give an overall rating of the hospital and their likelihood to recommend it to others. The result found no statistically significant difference between the group in terms of the overall rating of the hospital but found an increased likelihood for those who received the therapy to recommend the hospital to others.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the patients were also asked to rate their overall health such as pain, social and physical functioning and mental health. The study found that those who received the therapy reported a decreased perception of pain and a better health-related quality of life. The researchers recommend that more hospitals utilize the power of music therapy to improve patient care and satisfaction.