The Influence of Music

on Human Heart Rate Jimmy Hurley

Grade 9

Central Catholic High School

Introduction: Heartbeat

• Heartbeat: the frequency of the cardiac cycle.

• Cardiac Cycle: all of the events related to the flow of

blood pressure and from the beginning of one heartbeat

to the next.

• Average heart rate for adult humans: 60 to 100 beats per

minute.

• Factors that effect heartbeat: exercise, body position,

body size, medication use, illness, music, stress,

breathing, pressure, and dehydration.

Introduction: Music

• Music: A performing art that involves rhythmic

sounds.

• Elements of music are pitch (melody and harmony),

rhythm (tempo, meter, and articulation), and

dynamics (timbre and texture.)

• Originated during the Paleolithic area, also called

the Old Stone Age.

Past Study-Oxford University

and Harvard Health Letter

Research at Oxford University showed that music with

a faster tempo increased the heart beat.

Research for the Harvard Health letter was done at the

Massachusetts General Hospital and in medical

facilities in Hong Kong showed that people who listen

to music 20 to 30 minutes everyday had lower blood

pressure than those who did not.

Purpose

• The purpose of this experiment is to see how

different genres of music effect the heartbeat of

human males and females.

Hypotheses

• Null Hypothesis- The music will not have an effect

on the heart rate.

• Alternative Hypothesis 1- The music will have a

significant effect on the heart rate.

• Alternative Hypothesis 2- Music will effect female

heart rates greater than males.

Materials

• iPad (music player)

• iPhone (timer)

• Music from different genres

• 10 human participants (5 male, 5 female) (Age

range 42-59)

• Chairs

Songs

• Tears in Heaven- Soft Blues Music (Eric Clapton)

• My Latin Brother- Jazz Music (Marty Ashby)

• Cruise- Country Music (Florida-Georgia Line)

• Sweet Caroline- Pop Music (Neil Diamond)

• Crazy Train- Rock Music (Ozzy Osbourne)

Procedure • All of the participants sat down in a quiet area in my house (five males and female).

• After ten minutes of quiet, the participants took their resting pulse beat for a minute.

• The participants recorded their heart rate on a piece of paper provided.

• Next, the first song was played for two minutes.

• Right after the song ended, the participants took their pulse heart rate (beats per minute) for a

minute and recorded it.

• They took their pulse beat again after five minutes to make sure it went back down to resting

pulse beat. At that time , the next selected song was played for two minutes.

• This procedure was repeated for every song.

Music Effects on Male

Heart Rate

64

66

68

70

72

74

76

78

80

82

Male 1 Male 2 Male 3 Male 4 Male 5

Resting Pulse

Tears in Heaven

My Latin Brother

Sweet Caroline

Cruise

Crazy Train

Average

Heart

Rates

Test Subjects

1.19E-08 3.58E-07 0.00023

3 2.54E-

05 0.000622

Dunnett’s Test Male

T crit- 3.62 Males Tears in Heaven My Latin

Brother

Sweet Caroline Cruise Crazy Train

Male 1 1.414214 1.944544 7.424621 (SIG) 4.419417 (SIG) 8.662058 (SIG)

Male 2 1.872764 -0.51075 3.405026 3.405026 7.491057 (SIG)

Male 3 1.264911 0.948683 4.427189 (SIG) 2.529822 4.743416 (SIG)

Male 4 1.872764 -0.51075 3.405026 3.405026 7.491057 (SIG)

Male 5 1.257079 0.471405 3.928371 (SIG) 3.142697 4.085506 (SIG)

Music Effects on

Female Heart Rate

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

Female 1 Female 2 Female 3 Female 4 Female 5

Resting Pulse

Tears in Heaven

My Latin Brother

Sweet Caroine

Cruise

Crazy Train

Average

Heart

Rates

Test Subjects

0.000622 0.00245

6.93E-

06

0.001636

2.56E-06

Dunnett’s Test Female

T crit- 3.62 Songs Tears in Heaven My Latin

Brother

Sweet Caroline Cruise Crazy Train

Female 1 2.633708 3.292135 5.794157 (SIG)

5.399101 (SIG)

7.769437 (SIG)

Female 2 2.024243 1.445888 5.783553 (SIG)

5.494375 (SIG)

5.928141 (SIG)

Female 3 1.013606 0.202721 2.12 0.304082 4.155785 (SIG)

Female 4 1.555635 -0.28284 4.525483 (SIG)

2.828427 5.798276 (SIG)

Female 5 0.500652 -0.12516 2.002609 0.87142 4.255545 (SIG)

Male vs. Female Heart

rate change

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Tears in Heaven My Latin Brother Sweet Caroline Cruise Crazy Train

Male

Female

Average

Change

in

Heartbeat

Song Titles

0.011

0.9134

0.5177 0.06028

0.08502

Conclusions

• Reject null hypothesis. Music seemed to have a

significant change on heart rate. Alternative

accepted.

• Alternative hypothesis 2 not accepted. No

significant variation except with the music Tears in

Heaven.

• It appears as though that the higher tempo songs

had a greater effect on the heart rate.

Limitations

• Subjects may have not liked a given song, effecting

their response.

• Heart rate was determined manually, might be

slightly inaccurate.

• Subjects can very in fatigue, health, emotional state,

etc.

Extensions

Increase number of songs and population size.

Narrow the age groups.

Use heart rate device.

Place subjects in separate rooms.

Vary volume and length of music.

References

• Roth, Erica. Relationship Between Music and Heart

Rate. Livestrong.com, n.d. Web.

• William and Regina Bailey. Music Science Project.

Crystal-Clear-Science-Fair-Projects.com. 2005-

2011. Web.

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Avera

ge Variance

Column 1 5 349 69.8 3.7

Column 2 5 357 71.4 2.8

Column 3 5 360 72 2.5

Column 4 5 391 78.2 2.2

Column 5 5 374 74.8 5.7

Column 6 5 398 79.6 2.3

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F

P-value F crit

Between Groups 387.5 5 77.5

24.21875

1.19E-08

2.620654

Within Groups 76.8 24 3.2

Total 464.3 29

Male 1 Age 59

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Avera

ge Varian

ce

Column 1 5 360 72 2.5

Column 2 5 368 73.6 1.3

Column 3 5 366 73.2 3.2

Column 4 5 388 77.6 4.3

Column 5 5 376 75.2 5.2

Column 6 5 390 78 7.5

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F

P-value F crit

Between Groups

149.8667 5

29.97333

7.493333

0.000233

2.620654

Within Groups 96 24 4

Total 245.8

667 29

Male 3 Age 53

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Averag

e Varianc

e

Column 1 5 360 72 2.5

Column 2 5 371 74.2 2.2

Column 3 5 357 71.4 1.3

Column 4 5 380 76 2.5

Column 5 5 380 76 6.5

Column 6 5 404 80.8 5.7

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups

291.0667 5

58.21333

16.87343

3.58E-07

2.620654

Within Groups 82.8 24 3.45

Total 373.86

67 29

Male 2 Age 49

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Avera

ge Variance

Column 1 5 355 71 2.5

Column 2 5 366 73.2 3.7

Column 3 5 360 72 2.5

Column 4 5 379 75.8 5.7

Column 5 5 371 74.2 5.2

Column 6 5 395 79 5

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F

P-value F crit

Between Groups 208.4 5 41.68

10.16585

2.54E-05

2.620654

Within Groups 98.4 24 4.1

Total 306.8 29

Male 4 Age 51

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Avera

ge Varian

ce

Column 1 5 356 71.2 3.7

Column 2 5 364 72.8 5.2

Column 3 5 359 71.8 3.7

Column 4 5 381 76.2 3.7

Column 5 5 376 75.2 3.7

Column 6 5 382 76.4 4.3

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F

P-value F crit

Between Groups

130.6667 5

26.13333

6.452675

0.000622

2.620654

Within Groups 97.2 24 4.05

Total 227.8

667 29

Male 5 Age 58

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Avera

ge Variance

Column 1 5 362 72.4 4.3

Column 2 5 382 76.4 4.3

Column 3 5 387 77.4 4.3

Column 4 5 406 81.2 3.7

Column 5 5 403 80.6 4.3

Column 6 5 421 84.2 13.7

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F

P-value F crit

Between Groups 433.9 5 86.78

15.04855

0.000622

2.620654

Within Groups 138.4 24

5.766667

Total 572.3 29

Female 1 Age 47

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Avera

ge Varian

ce

Column 1 5 355 71 2.5

Column 2 5 369 73.8 1.7

Column 3 5 365 73 2.5

Column 4 5 395 79 5

Column 5 5 393 78.6 9.3

Column 6 5 396 79.2 7.7

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F

P-value F crit

Between Groups

322.5667 5

64.51333

13.48711

2.56E-06

2.620654

Within Groups 114.8 24

4.783333

Total 437.36

67 29

Female 2 Age 58

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Avera

ge Variance

Column 1 5 372 74.4 5.3

Column 2 5 382 76.4 4.3

Column 3 5 374 74.8 11.2

Column 4 5 393 78.6 8.8

Column 5 5 375 75 8.5

Column 6 5 413 82.6 20.3

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F

P-value F crit

Between Groups 249.3

667 5 49.87

333 5.123

973 0.002

452 2.620

654

Within Groups 233.6 24 9.733

333

Total 482.9

667 29

Female 3 Age 56

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Averag

e Varianc

e

Column 1 5 361 72.2 7.7

Column 2 5 372 74.4 2.3

Column 3 5 359 71.8 5.7

Column 4 5 393 78.6 5.3

Column 5 5 381 76.2 4.7

Column 6 5 402 80.4 4.3

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 299.2 5 59.84 11.968 6.93E-

06 2.6206

54

Within Groups 120 24 5

Total 419.2 29

Female 4 Age 53

Anova: Single Factor

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average Variance

Column 1 5 381 76.2 5.7

Column 2 5 385 77 5

Column 3 5 380 76 4.5

Column 4 5 397 79.4 7.3

Column 5 5 388 77.6 4.3

Column 6 5 415 83 11.5

ANOVA

Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 175.6 5 35.12 5.501828 0.001636 2.620654

Within Groups 153.2 24 6.383333

Total 328.8 29

Female 5 Age 42