Music listening and stress recovery in healthy individuals: a systematic review with meta-analysis of experimental studies

Studies have suggested that listening to music may be beneficial for stress reduction. Despite this, empirical support for this opinion has been largely equivocal. To clarify the current literature, we conducted a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized, controlled experimental studies investigating the effects of music listening on stress recovery in healthy individuals. In fourteen experimental studies, participants (N = 706) were first exposed to an acute laboratory stressor, following which they were either exposed to music or a control condition. A random-effects meta-regression with robust variance estimation demonstrated a non-significant cumulative effect of music listening on stress recovery g = 0.15, 95% CI [-0.21, 0.52], t(13) = 0.92, p = 0.374, with high heterogeneity between studies. Thus, no definite conclusions may currently be drawn about the effects of music listening on the short-term stress recovery process of healthy individuals. Suggestions for future research are discussed.