Investigative Question
How can different sound rhythms affect the heartbeat of a person and thus contribute to stress relief. Secondarily, how does the biological data compare to people’s perception of stress relief?
Background Information
When you listen to different sound rhythms it passes through the ear to the rest of the body, and sound waves from the ear allows the brain to convert the mechanical energy into electrical energy. It then is broken down by the process of thinking, and then travels to the center of the brain that contains emotions, creativity and anxiety. It then goes to the hypothalamus which controls respiration and heart rate, so when you listen to high beat sound rhythms, it allows the heart beat to accelerate, whereas slow sound rhythms allows your heart to beat lower causing your body to relax. ("Do Different Types of Music Affect the Heart Rate?” 2015).
Listening to sound rhythms allows people to identify and express the feelings associated with their stress, also listening to relaxing sound rhythms can help the brain improve learning and memory skills, which are always useful when under stress. This may be because the processing of music shares some of the same pathways as stress in the brain. ("Relaxation Techniques for Stress Relief" 2015).
Hypothesis
If the rhythm is high, then heartbeat increases, and if the rhythm is low, then the heartbeat decreases. Faster heartbeats indicate stress, but it isn’t necessary the case since faster rhythm of music doesn’t lead to stress but could mimic the effects of stress. ("The Power of Music To Reduce Stress", 2015).
Variables
• Independent:
o Types of sound rhythms
o Age
• Dependent:
o Heart rate
• Controlled:
o Time – Length of the sound rhythms
o Volume
Materials
• Participants
• Hand-grip heart rate monitor
• Audio device
• Stopwatch
• LabQuest
• Headphones
• Types of sound rhythm
Method
1. Ask participants for permission before conducting the experiment on them.
2. Turn on the LabQuest and connect it to the monitor.
3. Measure the resting heart rate for one minute
4. Record the data displayed on the LabQuest after one minute in the table
5. Play the songs from lowest to highest rhythm for one minute per song
6. Repeat steps 1 – 5 per participant
Data Discussion
As shown in the data above, the general observation is that the younger the participant, the faster the heart beat, similarly the older the participant, the slower the heart beat. For most participants after the normal heart rate was measured, after listening to the Quran their heart beat per minute decreased, suggesting relaxation. As to when the music’s rhythm becomes faster the heartbeat per minute also increases along with the beat of the rhythm. However, this is not the case for all participants as some were hyper such as Shamma, some were afraid from the equipment such as Shahad and Aisha as well as some were stressed due to work load such as Ms. Manal, which then affected the results. In some cases the participants either liked or disliked certain types of music, which then resulted in either becoming stressed and may have increased the heart beat or wanting to dance along to their favorite music genre which may have affected the heart rate. The participant with the highest resting heart rate was Shahad from age group 10-19 with 125 BPM and the participant with the lowest resting heart rate was Miss Louise from the age group 30-39 with 57 BPM. The difference between these two participants was more than double and the reason behind this was because Shahad was terrified from the equipment we were experimenting on her and Miss Louise had the lowest heart rate because she was more fit than other participants which lead to a steady low heart beat per minute.
The youngest participant Aisha, in the age group 0-9 years old resting heart rate began at 93 BPM and reacted most to the music genre Rock where her heart rate increased to 104 BPM. She relaxed most while listening to the Qur’an. The second age group from 10-19 consisted of three participants with the age range of 12, 14 and 16. Shahad age 12, had a resting rate of 125 BPM and had a reaction most to the 50’s Big Band of 124 BPM which surprisingly decreased from the resting rate and this could be due to the fact that she was scared in the beginning as well as the fact she had chocolate before the experiment which could lead her to be more hyper. However, she decreased to 115 BPM as she listened to the Qur’an, which calmed her down. Shamma age 14 resting rate was 128 BPM due to being hyper and energized, and reacted most to the Hard Rock due to the fact that she enjoys and normally listens to this kind of music. Her lowest heart rate was Jazz at 99 BPM because she doesn’t enjoy this kind of music and didn’t energize her. Rawda age 16 had a resting heart rate at 81 BPM and her highest heart rate was 102 BPM while listening to Hard Rock which increased from 81 BPM. Her lowest was 82 BPM while listening to Jazz which calmed her down. The next age group was from 20-29 with 2 participants and the first was Mrs. Lauren with a resting rate of 76 BPM and it increased mostly to 84 BPM when she listened to pop music. Her heart rate decreased mostly when she listened to the classical genre at 72 BPM because she felt very relaxed. The next participant in this age group was Miss Khulood with a resting rate of 90 BPM and increased mostly to 92 BPM while listening to country and jazz but the lowest 85 BPM while listening to the classic indicating that she was relaxed. Then the age group that came next was 30-39 with 3 participants for more accurate results and the first participant was Miss Nesreen was overall calm with a resting rate of 73 BPM with the highest BPM rate was 79 at rock and lowest was 69 BPM while listening to classic. Throughout the whole process her heart rate remained along the line of 70’s. The second participant was Miss Louise with the lowest heart beats per minute compared to the rest because she was fitter than most which lead her to having a resting rate to 57 BPM and increased mostly to 62 BPM while listening to the Rock genre. It decreased mostly at the Qur’an to 54 BPM showing calmness. The last participant in this age group was Miss Lize with a resting of 87 BPM and the highest was 94 BPM while listening to the genre of rock and the lowest was 79 BPM while hearing the Qur’an. The next age group was 40-49 with 2 participants. First participant was Miss Nada with a resting rate of 76 BPM and increasing mostly at Rock with a 93 BPM showing stressed because she hates this kind of music. It decreased mostly in classic to 73 BPM. The next participant in this age group was Mrs Chantal with a resting rate of 83 BPM and it increased to 85 BPM while listening to rock but decreased to 74 BPM while hearing the classical genre. The final age group is 50-59 with two participants. The first participant in this age group was Miss Cindy with a resting rate of 63 BPM because she is fit and it increased to 72 BPM while listening to jazz music and decreased while listening to classic to 62 BPM. The last participant was Mrs Manal with a resting rate of 83 BPM which was the highest due to the fact that she was stressed, however, after listening to the Qur’an her overall mood changed and went down to 73 BPM.
Overall, these results indicate that the faster the rhythm of the song, the higher the energy and motivation it gives a person, since it was stated that those who listen to fast rhythms while driving are more likely to drive faster than those who are listening to slower rhythms. Similarly while working out, the faster the rhythm the person is listening to, the faster the workout becomes.
Conclusion
Overall, when the participants were listening to music, classical music will slow down the heart rate while louder and faster frequency music such as rock and Metallica, increased the person’s heart rate. The average of a normal heart rate is between 76 – 96 BPM. Some participants had an increased or a decreased in the normal heart rate during the experiment. As you can clearly see, the graph was there to demonstrate an image of the table itself.
The Qur’an allowed eight people to decrease from their resting heartbeat, and allowed five people to increase. The classic allowed 10 decreases and the rest to increase from their resting heartbeat. For the country genre 8 heart rates decreased and 5 increased. For jazz 6 decreased and 5 increased. 50’s Big band 7 decreased and 5 increased. For the pop genre, 4 decreases and 8 increases. For rock 2 decreased and 9 increased but some stayed at the same range of the resting heart rate. Hard rock music decreased 4 participants heart rate and 8 increased.
The hypothesis is valid, because the higher the rhythm, the higher the amount of heartbeats, and if the rhythm is low, then the heartbeat decreases. Faster heartbeats indicate stress, but it isn’t necessary the case since faster rhythm of music doesn’t lead to stress but could mimic the effects of stress. The method that was followed is valid because all the steps were followed correctly and accurately when making this lab report and making this experiment valid.
Some difficulties that were faced were the heart rate monitor was unstable during the experiment therefore it didn’t provide an accurate result. Another difficulty we also faced was people weren’t being fully relaxed and that caused an increase in the heart rate.
There are different types of music genres, but we only used a few genres which were generalized, for example, classical has a lot of styles but we only picked a general one and the same follows to the rest. This created limitations that caused a change in the rate of heartbeats as well as some people are used to listening to these types of music genres making them not show a difference in the heart rate. There are a few improvements that can be made in this experiment which would further modify the procedure and generate more accurate results. The song selection could be improved by selecting more than 1 song per genre; a total of two or three songs per genre would make the result more accurate. In order to improve the overall ability to account for the major population the participant tested during this experiment could’ve varied more in age group and surveyed to see which type of music they listen to most often. An error that caused the lab to be less accurate is changing lab quest during the process because it ran out of battery and it had to be swapped with another one, which may have affected the accuracy of the results. A biological error could’ve also played a role in this experiment. After listening to the song for a certain amount of time, the participant’s heart rate could’ve been restored back to normal, this could’ve varied the beats per minute because different participants take different amount of time for their body to return to its normal heart rate. Another error may have occurred would be that the volume may have played a role in producing this data. ("Writing in Biology", 2015).