Clinical trial · Interventional
Effect and Safety of Listening to Music for Chronic Pain Relief
Effect and Safety of Listening to Music or Audiobooks as a Coadjunvant Treatment for Chronic Pain Patients Under Opioid Treatment: A Single-Center, Open-Label, Parallel Groups, Controlled, Randomized Pilot Clinical Trial
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Chronic pain is a multidimensional pathological condition that reduces patients' quality of life and interferes with their daily family and work activities. Opioids are the most powerful analgesics in the treatment of pain. They are used as a basic analgesic treatment for managing patients with chronic pain and as an analgesic treatment for managing breakthrough pain. Chronic administration of opioids can cause significant side effects (e.g., dependence, constipation) and tolerance to their analgesic effects, limiting their use. Different behavioral therapies (e.g., mindfulness and cognitive therapy) have been proposed to potentiate the analgesic effects of opioids and, consequently, reduce the dose and the appearance of adverse effects. One of the proposed approaches consists of listening to music therapeutically as a cognitive tool that modulates attention and regulates mood. Some studies provide evidence that music can reduce opioid requirements in patients with chronic pain. On the other hand, both opioids and music activate brain circuits for reward, reinforcement, and motivation. Preliminary results obtained by our research group in animal models suggest that listening to music can reduce the appearance of a withdrawal syndrome after chronic administration of opioids. Our working hypothesis is that multimodal therapy, based on listening to music as an adjuvant treatment to regular analgesic treatment with opioids, reduces pain intensity and its harmful effects in patients diagnosed with chronic non-cancer pain. Hence, the daily amount of opioids taken will be reduced, as well as the likelihood of developing opioid tolerance, dependence, and other opioid-related adverse events. At the same time, these patients' emotional well-being and quality of life will improve. This is a parallel-group, open-label, single-center randomized, pilot, controlled clinical trial that aims to evaluate the effect and safety of music as a coadjuvant treatment for chronic non-cancer pain.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chronic Pain | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audiobook | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Music | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Music Group
- description
- Patients randomized to this group will listen daily to a musical playlist for 30 - 60 minutes in a row through a mobile device. This will be performed in addition to the opioid treatment.
- interventionNames
- Other: Music
- type
- PLACEBO_COMPARATOR
- label
- Audiobooks Group
- description
- Patients randomized to this group will listen to an audiobook daily for 30 - 60 minutes in a row through a mobile device. This will be performed in addition to the opioid treatment.
- interventionNames
- Other: Audiobook
Primary outcomes (3)
- measure
- Pain intensity measured by the Visual Analog Scale
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with ≥18 years of age. * Diagnosed with Chronic Non-Oncological Pain. * Under regular (maintenance) opioid treatment for at least one month. * Patients who sign the written informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: * Pregnant or lactating women. * History of an organic brain disorder or substance abuse/dependence. * History of Psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, and/or intellectual disability. * Patients at risk of opioid addiction. * Patients that the Pain Clinic physician or psychologist believe will not comply with the study treatment/procedures.
References
Publications (5)
- BACKGROUNDTurk DC, Wilson HD, Cahana A. Treatment of chronic non-cancer pain. Lancet. 2011 Jun 25;377(9784):2226-35. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60402-9. PMID 21704872
- BACKGROUNDZimmer Z, Fraser K, Grol-Prokopczyk H, Zajacova A. A global study of pain prevalence across 52 countries: examining the role of country-level contextual factors. Pain. 2022 Sep 1;163(9):1740-1750. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002557. Epub 2021 Dec 15. PMID 35027516
- BACKGROUNDHopkins RE, Degenhardt L, Campbell G, Farnbach S, Gisev N. "Frustrated with the whole system": a qualitative framework analysis of the issues faced by people accessing health services for chronic pain. BMC Health Serv Res. 2022 Dec 31;22(1):1603. doi: 10.1186/s12913-022-08946-8. PMID 36587208
- BACKGROUNDBreivik H, Eisenberg E, O'Brien T; OPENMinds. The individual and societal burden of chronic pain in Europe: the case for strategic prioritisation and action to improve knowledge and availability of appropriate care. BMC Public Health. 2013 Dec 24;13:1229. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-1229. PMID 24365383
- DERIVEDGrau-Sanchez J, Serrano A, Villoria J, Carnaval T, Porto MF, Zapata L, Flores-Garcia M, Segura E, Garrido-Pedrosa J, Rodriguez-Fornells A, Fernandez-Duenas V, Videla S. Effect and safety of listening to music or audiobooks as a coadjuvant treatment for chronic pain patients under opioid treatment: a study protocol for an open-label, parallel-group, randomised, controlled, proof-of-concept clinical trial in a tertiary hospital in the Barcelona South Metropolitan area. BMJ Open. 2023 Sep 11;13(9):e074948. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-074948. PMID 37696633