A Comparative Evaluation of The Effect of Music Therapy, Noise Occlusion and Ambient Noise on Anxiety and Sedation Levels in Patients Undergoing Elective Lower Limb Orthopaedic Surgeries Under Combined Spinal Epidural Anaesthesia

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of music therapy on anxiety and sedation level of patients undergoing elective lower limb orthopaedic surgeries under combined spinal epidural anaesthesia in Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, New Delhi. The study was designed as a prospective, randomised comparative study. The subjects consisted of 75 patients randomised into control group (C = 25), music group (M = 25) and noise occlusion group (N= 25). Data was collected over a period of one and half years from August 2017 to Feb 2019. After completion of the study a comparison of the haemodynamic parameters, respiratory rate, anxiety and sedation scores was done at different time intervals among the three groups to study the anxiolytic and sedative effects of music therapy. The data was entered in MS EXCEL spreadsheet and analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. The hypothesis that patients who received Music therapy had less anxiety and higher sedation level than those who did not (group C and N) was supported (p<0.05). The second hypothesis that patients who were occluded from ambient OT noise (group N) had lesser anxiety was refuted (p>0.05) but higher sedation was supported (p<0.05). Hence our study concluded that patients scheduled to undergo elective surgery experience anxiety preoperatively. Listening to pre-selected slow rhythm music intraoperatively is effective in lowering the anxiety of patients and helps them fall asleep. Blocking ambient OT noise aids sedation but has no effect on anxiety of patients whereas exposure to ambient OT noise increases their anxiety as they may be aware of the OT proceedings throughout the surgery.