Hull firm develops music app to cut staff and patient stress

The trial has found "very impressive" results, a doctor working with the app said

Doctors are trialling a music app which creates personalised playlists to help patients and hospital staff relax.

MediBeat analyses information about users, such as age, gender and ethnicity, to select songs designed to help reduce anxiety and stress.

In a recent trial researchers found it helped lower one dementia patient's heart rate by 22%.

Dr Jacqueline Twamley said using "music as medicine" could "revolutionise" the treatment of some conditions.

The app creates tailored playlists engineered with a view to reducing levels of hormones like cortisol and promoting relaxation through hormones like dopamine and oxytocin.

Created by Hull-based company MediMusic, the app is being tested at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

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Dr Twamley, from the Centre for Health Research & Innovation in Lancashire, said initial results had been "very impressive".

She said the app had been tested on 25 patients with dementia during the Covid-19 pandemic, one of whom, a 75-year-old with vascular dementia who regularly became agitated around dusk each day.

"The use of the MediMusic service saw a reduction in pre/post heart rate: 76bpm initially, settling at 60bpm, which was a reduction of 22%," she said.

"At the end of the playlist, agitation did not resume for about an hour afterwards.

"We believe that dispensing music as medicine could revolutionise the treatment of dementia and other similar neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's."

She said the app was also being trialled on 40 NHS staff who had worked in critical care during the pandemic.

Analysis by Anne-Marie Tasker, Health Correspondent, BBC Look North

The app uses artificial intelligence to pick "heart rate-optimised" music

After telling it my age and gender and selecting a handful of music genres I like, the app set to work.

About 20 seconds later it had pulled together a playlist of songs designed to reduce my stress.

There were two surprises; one, I would never choose Sonia's "Better the Devil You Know" over Kylie's; and two, the playlist designed to relax me kicked off with a track by rock band Placebo.

But, designer Gary Jones explained I shouldn't expect my favourite songs to appear, using the analogy that while I might use paracetamol at home a hospital doctor might prescribe something more effective.

When I listened to the playlist, as expected, the opening track had my adrenaline pumping like I was getting ready for a night out.

By the middle of the playlist I just felt frustrated that I could be listening to better songs.

But, after a bit of Bjork kicked in I found myself breathing more deeply and steadily and by the end I definitely felt more relaxed than when I started.

Gary Jones, CEO and co-founder of MediMusic, said: "Our initial clinical trials using MediMusic shows it has a very encouraging future in the treatment of patients.

"Now we want to see if we can help NHS staff combat work stress."