Figure 1.

Schematic overview of the course of the study. During the 18-day intervention period, participants are prompted six times per day to report whether they feel stressed at the moment (“yes”/”no”) and are instructed to self-initiate a data entry each time they feel stressed. Upon reporting a momentary stress experience (T₀), participants are encouraged to listen to their study playlist, which can be complied with or rejected. Post-(non-)music listening assessments (T₁, T₂) are included to capture immediate and time-delayed effects on subjective stress levels and biological stress markers (salivary cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase). EMA, ecological momentary assessment. Tube icon provided by https://www.flaticon.com.