Clinical trial finds 24 minutes of music with auditory beats eases anxiety

Medical Xpress / Toronto Metropolitan University / PLOS Mental Health ^ | Jan. 23, 2026 | Danielle K. Mullen et al

[ConservativeMind]

A new randomized clinical trial has revealed that just 24 minutes of listening to specially designed music paired with auditory beat stimulation (ABS) can significantly reduce anxiety. The research offers a promising complementary approach for people seeking accessible, non-drug-based support for emotional regulation.

Anxiety affects millions of people globally, and while medications and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are common treatments, they can come with barriers such as side effects, waitlists, cost and time commitment. Music-based digital therapeutics are emerging as a low-cost, highly accessible tool that can provide immediate relief from anxiety symptoms.

In this study, 144 adults with moderate trait anxiety who were already taking anxiety-reducing medication were randomly assigned to one of four listening conditions:

Pink noise (24 minutes; control) Music with ABS (12 minutes) Music with ABS (24 minutes) Music with ABS (36 minutes) Participants completed standardized measures of anxiety and mood before and after the intervention.

24 minutes emerges as the optimal 'dose' Results showed that music with ABS reliably reduced both cognitive and somatic symptoms of anxiety, as well as negative mood, compared to the pink noise control.

Importantly, the 24-minute listening session produced the strongest overall reduction in anxiety, performing on par with the 36-minute session and clearly outperforming the 12-minute version.

"What we're seeing is a dose–response pattern where about 24 minutes of music with ABS seems to be the sweet spot," said Russo. "It's long enough to meaningfully shift anxiety levels, but not so long that listeners need to carve out a large block of time."

[Vaduz]

Cue Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida drum solo.

[MayflowerMadam]

Who doesn’t know that? It was a thing back in the 1600s.

“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,” from William Congreve’s 1697 play ‘The Mourning Bride’”.

[ConservativeMind]

This is someone on Youtube who appears to have generated the beats for 4.5 and 6 Hz, for the first two videos. These are both in the Theta wave frequencies that appear favored for this study.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbXZkxjs1XprwqkCLFbZTcm8b6k71RfOR

I haven't listened to them and they aren't from the apps I mentioned.

[ConservativeMind]

To make binaural beats work properly, you should use a headset. The benefit comes from your ears hearing each speaker’s different tones, completely separate from each other.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[cyclotic]

Hmmm. My wife had breast cancer surgery last year and is naturally a bit anxious. Regular sauna’s are part of her treatment regimen. (we’re doing the naturopathic approach for the most part to post treatment. Lots of supplements etc)

Our sauna has bluetooth speakers and a red-light therapy unit. With music maybe she can kill three birds with one stone.

[Dr. Sivana]

Wouldn’t it just be simpler to snuggle with your purring cat...?

Depends on the cat . . . not all purr on demand. We have one who does, and she's sweet.

[boomstick]

Bfl

[goo goo g'joob]

save this one

[dfwgator]

Supper’s Ready!

[married21]

Next: scientists discover dancing!

[lee martell]

Thank you for that breakdown. I wasn’t sure.

[Ancesthntr]

This beat soothes me: https://youtu.be/gn63Siphu3M?si=jX-z65QMmTaSSjwp