Harmonic sounds: complementary medicine for the critically ill

Anxiety is a common phenomenon among hospitalized patients, and over the past few decades there has been a growing interest in using music as an anxiolytic agent on patients in intensive care undergoing ventilation. Critically ill patients experience both anxiety and pain related to their illness and injury, but the implementation of music can help provide a supportive role for relief of symptoms that interfere with the healing process. This article aims to review music therapy as an aid to reducing anxiety and pain levels within an intensive care unit setting. By observing the literature, music therapy as a non-pharmacological intervention will be discussed and the benefit of promoting a healing environment for patients will be addressed.