Short communication Validity and reliability of peak tibial accelerations as real-time measure of impact loading during over-ground rearfoot running at different speeds

Music is frequently used as a means of relaxation. Conversely, it is used as a means of arousal in sports and exercise contexts. Previous research suggests that tempo is one of the most significant determinants of music-related arousal and relaxation effects. Here we investigate the specific effect of music tempo, but also more generally, the influence of music on human heart rate. We took the pulses of 32 participants in silence, and then we played them non-vocal, ambient music at a tempo corresponding to their heart rates.Finally, we played the same music again, either with the tempo increased or decreased by a factor of 45%, 30%, or 15%; or maintaining the same tempo as in the first playing.Mixed-design ANOVA tests revealed a significant increase in heart rate while listening to the music as compared with silence (p < .05). Besides, substantial decreases in tempo (-45% or -30%) could account for smaller subsequent heart rate reductions (p < .05).We neither found links between increases in tempo (+15%, +30%, and +45%) and heart rate change, nor small decreases (-15%). In addition, neither effects of gender, music training, nor of musical preference were found. This indicates that during passive music listening, music exerts a general arousal effect on human heart rate, which might be regulated by tempo. These results are a major contribution to the way in which music may be used in everyday activities.Short Title: The impact of music and music tempo on human heart rate 3 How is music related to human heart rate? Particularly in music therapy, but also in sports and exercise contexts, this question has puzzled many due to the implications of the answer. For instance, the use of music has long been considered effective for enhancing exercise (Karageorghis & Terry, 1997). Music reflects participants' physiological arousal level (Berlyne, 1971;North & Hargreaves, 1997), and it was established that, in everyday settings, people prefer to listen to auditory stimuli with tempi in the range of the normal heart rate (i.e., 70-100 BPM) (Iwanaga, 1995a(Iwanaga, , 1995b.In moderate to high-intensity exercise, however, there is a preference for medium-and fast-paced music (Karageorghis, Jones, & Low, 2006).Listening to certain types of musical stimuli has also been shown to attenuate heart rate after stressful tasks (Knight & Rickard, 2001). Slow music, for example classical or meditative music, has often been demonstrated to initiate reductions in heart rate, resulting in greater relaxation (Bernardi, Porta, & Sleight, 2006;Chlan, 1998; Hilz et al., 2014;Krumhansl, 1997;Nomura, Yoshimura, & Kurosawa, 2003). Combined with evidence of decreases in blood pressure, respiratory rate, and subjective anxiety levels (Knight & Rickard, 2001; Hilz et al., 2014;Möckel et al., 1994), such findings support the claim that listening to certain music could serve as an effective anxiolytic treatment, reducing stress levels and inducing relaxation. Based on such results, it is apprehensible that the common use of music in therape...

Background: Music-based interventions appear to be efficient approaches to improve emotional, social, and cognitive functioning of patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Objective: Because benefits seem to increase with patient’s motor involvement, we studied sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) abilities of patients with cognitive impairments (Alzheimer’s disease, vascular and mixed dementia) and of patients with no evidence of cognitive impairments. More specifically, we compared the impact of a live performance by a musician to a video recording on SMS. Methods: SMS to a metronomic or a musical stimulus was assessed while patients watched a live musician or his pre-recorded video. Results: SMS to a metronome was better than to music but this effect was modulated by the social context. While SMS to a metronome was better when facing a video than a live performance, there was no impact of social context on SMS to music. No group differences of SMS were found. Conclusion: The decrease in SMS to a metronome in a live performance may be due to social pressure. Such a pressure might be removed in pleasant social activities, like moving with music in a group, explaining the lack of effect on SMS to music. We found no performance differences in groups, suggesting relatively spared SMS in cognitively impaired patients. By showing that it is possible to encourage patients to synchronize with others, even when facing a video, our results indicate that SMS can be used as a relevant predictor in clinical trials and open up promising therapeutic options for isolated patients.

Methods to reduce impact in distance runners have been proposed based on real-time auditory feedback of tibial acceleration. These methods were developed using treadmill running. In this study, we extend these methods to a more natural environment with a proof-of-concept. We selected ten runners with high tibial shock. They used a music-based biofeedback system with headphones in a running session on an athletic track. The feedback consisted of music superimposed with noise coupled to tibial shock. The music was automatically synchronized to the running cadence. The level of noise could be reduced by reducing the momentary level of tibial shock, thereby providing a more pleasant listening experience. The running speed was controlled between the condition without biofeedback and the condition of biofeedback. The results show that tibial shock decreased by 27% or 2.96 g without guided instructions on gait modification in the biofeedback condition. The reduction in tibial shock did not result in a clear increase in the running cadence. The results indicate that a wearable biofeedback system aids in shock reduction during over-ground running. This paves the way to evaluate and retrain runners in over-ground running programs that target running with less impact through instantaneous auditory feedback on tibial shock.

The uniqueness of human music relative to speech and animal song has been extensively debated, but rarely directly measured. We applied an automated scale analysis algorithm to a sample of 86 recordings of human music, human speech, and bird songs from around the world. We found that human music throughout the world uniquely emphasized scales with small-integer frequency ratios, particularly a perfect 5th (3:2 ratio), while human speech and bird song showed no clear evidence of consistent scale-like tunings. We speculate that the uniquely human tendency toward scales with small-integer ratios may relate to the evolution of synchronized group performance among humans.