Favorite music lowered pain of IV insertion

Clinical takeaway: Consider letting patients pick their own song before IV placement for contrast MRI or other minor procedures. 

Clinicians who want a drug-free way to ease an IV start can offer music, but have had little guidance on which kind. Most pain research has been done in chronic conditions, not brief procedures like this one. Mozart's music is a frequent choice, but results for the "Mozart effect" have been inconsistent since 1993, and some authors reject any specific benefit.

Evidence from actual needle sticks is thin: a crossover trial in hemodialysis patients found less discomfort at cannulation with Mozart's sonata for two pianos, and two neonatal studies tested lullabies for heel pricks. A controlled comparison now sets three kinds of music against silence during IV placement. 

Patients who heard their favorite song rated pain lower than patients who heard nothing, both 30 seconds and two minutes after the cannula went in. That held across all adults, with or without pain beforehand. Mozart showed only a slight tendency toward lower scores at two minutes in the full group, and relaxation music did not move scores at any point. 

Among the 71 patients who already had pain before the needle, favorite music lowered scores at every time point, including immediately after insertion. Mozart lowered scores at two minutes and came close at 30 seconds. Relaxation music again had no effect, and the largest drops across music groups came at the two-minute mark. 

Researchers at University Hospital Zürich assigned 204 adults awaiting contrast MRI to Mozart's sonata for two pianos, their own favorite music, relaxation music, or no music, rotating groups by scheduled scan order rather than true randomization. Patients rated pain on a zero to 10 visual scale before the cannula and at puncture, 30 seconds, and two minutes after, reporting verbally to the technician who placed it. 

The results are exploratory, and the Mozart finding rests on a small subgroup. Confirmation will need randomized trials with more patients and procedures that hurt more and last longer than a needle stick. 

"Although a needle puncture is a minor procedure, the level of pain can vary significantly from person to person," said Andrei Cristinel Dragnea, MD, a radiology resident and lead author. "In modern medicine, the goal of treating physicians is not only to provide a successful diagnosis and therapy, but also to ensure that the procedure causes as little discomfort as possible."

Source: Dragnea AC, et al. (2026 Oct 9) Front Pain Res. Effect of music on short-term pain perception during peripheral intravenous cannulation