Table 1.
Music, T and OXT.
| Year | Author | Methods | Results | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T × Music | 1991 | Hassler (1991) | Subjects: adults and adolescents | Creative musical behaviour was associated with very low T in males and high T in females |
| 2001 | Fukui (2001) | Subjects: 70 people (35 men and 35 women, mean age 21 years) Stimuli: subjects listened to various genres of music for 30 min. (1) favourite music, (2) Gregorian chant, (3) Mozart, (4) jazz, (5) popular music and (6) silence | When listening to their favourite music, T decreased in men and increased in women | |
| Sex differences are inversely correlated, as is the talent for music composition | ||||
| Positively correlated with the preference for the music heard, i.e., the more enjoyment of the music, the larger the fluctuation | ||||
| Male: favourite music↓, Gregorian chant↓, Mozart↓, jazz↓, popular music↓, silence unchanged | ||||
| Female: favourite music↑, Gregorian chant↑, Mozart↑, jazz↑, popular music↑, silence↓ | ||||
| 2003 | Fukui and Yamashita (2003) | Subjects: 88 healthy college students (44 males and 44 females) Stimuli: (1) 30 min of listening to music, (2) 30 min of listening to music with visual stress (documentary film without sound, including violent scenes), (3) 30 min of visual stress without music and (4) 30 min of silence | Significant differences between the sexes in how music affected T | |
| Music decreased T in males, but increased T in females | ||||
| C decreased with music in both sex | ||||
| T decreased by 14% amongst male subjects and increased by 21% amongst female subjects | ||||
| Male: music↓, stress with music↑, stress↑, control↑ | ||||
| Female: music↑, stress with music↑, stress↑, control↑ | ||||
| 2011 | Fukui and Toyoshima (2011) | Subjects: 42 female volunteers were enrolled. Mean age was 72.9 years Stimuli: 90 min of choir activity, four sessions (once a month) | The group with low T rose after singing in a chorus; conversely, T values decreased in the group with high T | |
| Anxiety and sore index decreased (POMS) | ||||
| Cognitive test results (WAIS) memory task (Silverman and Eals’ Object Location Memory Task) | ||||
| Mental rotations test (Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotations test “3-dimensional”) also improved | ||||
| Low T:↑ | ||||
| High T:↓ | ||||
| 2012 | Fukui et al. (2012) | Subjects: 6 patients with an established diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (6 females, mean age 81.8 years) Stimuli: (1) talking by therapist, (2) singing by therapist and (3) talking and singing by therapist | 17β-estradiol and T levels increased during the therapist’s singing and talking sessions | |
| T: Therapist only↑, Music only unchanged, Music therapy↑ | ||||
| 2013 | Borniger et al. (2013) | Subjects: music student: 21 (12 males, 9 females) non-music student: 40 (15 males, 25 females) | Female music majors had higher T than non-majors; high-ranked students had higher T than low-ranked students | |
| Male subjects’ results were less powerful than females | ||||
| 2013 | Fukui and Toyoshima (2013) | Subjects: 21 subjects (10 males and 11 females, mean age 35 years) Stimuli: (1) preferred music (chill-inducing music) and (2) disliked music | Listened to their favourite music (chill-inducing music); T decreased in males and increased in females | |
| T levels declined in males when they listened to both types of music | ||||
| The 17-beta estradiol levels increased in males with both types of music, whereas the levels increased with chill-inducing music but declined with disliked music in females. Advanced Measures of Music Audiation | ||||
| (AMMA) scores were higher for the short repeat length-type AR than for the long repeat length-type | ||||
| Male: chill-induced music↓, disliked music↓ | ||||
| Female: chill-induced music↑, disliked music↓ | ||||
| 2013 | Jezova et al. (2013) | Subjects: 14 healthy volunteers 14 male volunteers (aged 21–29 years) Stimuli: listening to music played forward (pleasant) or backwards (unpleasant) Familiar and unfamiliar music | T, vasopressin and OXT levels were considerably higher when unknown sounds were present compared with when familiar music was playing | |
| Male: unfamiliar sounds↑ | ||||
| Unfamiliar: −2.71 ± 10.32 ng/mL/90 min | ||||
| Familiar: −53.85 ± 19.26 ng/mL/90 min | ||||
| 2015 | Beck et al. (2015) | Subjects: intervention: 13 participants (2 men and 11 women, mean age 43 years) control: 7 participants (2 men and 5 women, mean age 48 years) Stimuli: guided imagery and music used in music therapy | No significant changes were found in T | |
| 2022 | Bowling et al. (2022) | Subjects: young adult choir (n = 71) Stimuli: vocal production mode (singing vs. speaking) and social context (together vs. alone) | T was not significantly different (measured in male subjects only) | |
| OXT decreased after each condition, but significantly greater decreases were observed for speaking than for singing | ||||
| 2022 | Chéour et al. (2022) | Subjects: Male patients with mild AD (n = 26) were divided into four groups. Control (Co) group: n = 6 Participated in physical rehabilitation (PR) group: n = 6 Music therapy (MT) group: n = 7 MT + PR group: n = 7 | Salivary T levels increased and C levels decreased significantly in the PR, MT, and MT + PR groups compared with the Co group | |
| The increase in T was particularly pronounced in the MT + PR group compared with the other groups | ||||
| The MT group also showed a significant increase in T values compared with the PR group | ||||
| In the PR, MT and MT + PR groups, T level changes correlated positively with changes in MMSE and negatively with C levels | ||||
| T: Co↓, PR↑, MT↑ and MT + PR↑ | ||||
| OXT × Music | 2009 | Nilsson (2009) | Subjects: 40 patients with open-heart surgery randomly allocated to either music listening during bed rest (n = 20) or bed rest only (n = 20) Stimuli: control group (15 men and 5 women, mean age 67 years) and music group (17 men and 3 women, mean age 64 years) | OXT increased in the music group |
| OXT | ||||
| Music group: post1 (immediately after) ↑ and post2 (30 min later) ↑ | ||||
| Control group: post1 (immediately after)↓ | ||||
| Pre-value vs. post-value 1 mean (range): music group +3·95 (−10 to 28) (pmol/L), control group −5·45 (−29 to 8) (pmol/L) | ||||
| Pre-value vs. post-value 2 mean (range): music group +5·90 (−22 to 22) (pmol/L), control group −3·90 (−43 to 19) (pmol/L) and post2 (30 min later)↑ | ||||
| 2014 | Kreutz (2014) | Subjects: 21 participants (16 female, 5 male; age range: 18–65 years) were identical in both sessions Stimuli: singing condition and chatting condition | Subsequent comparisons of means reveal that OXT increased significantly after singing | |
| Singing: ↑ (before session mean 13.044 pg./mL, after session mean 18.083 pg./mL) | ||||
| Chatting: NS (before session mean 14.282 pg./mL, after session mean 15.898 pg./mL) | ||||
| 2015 | Keeler et al. (2015) | Subjects: 2 males and 2 females (jazz vocalists, university students) Conditions: standard performance (SP), improvised performance (IP) | ACTH concentrations decreased in both conditions but more significantly in the pre-composed singing condition | |
| Mean plasma OXT increased only in response to improvised singing, with no significant difference between improvised and pre-composed singing conditions | ||||
| Effects of pre-composed and improvised group singing on OXT are less clear | ||||
| OXT: SP condition↓, IP condition↑ | ||||
| 2016 | Fancourt et al. (2016) | Subjects: total 193 cancer: carers (n = 72), bereaved. Carers (n = 66) and patients (n = 55). Stimuli: participate choir |
Significant decrease in C, beta-endorphin and OXT | |
| 2016 | Gebauer et al. (2016) | Subjects: 98 females (non-musicians). Stimuli: OXT or placebo, tapping (four conditions) | OXT improves synchronisation to an unresponsive partner’s behaviour through a reduction in tapping variability | |
| 2017 | Schladt et al. (2017) | Subjects: 38 student chorists. Two cohorts: one with 21 participants (males: n = 9, females: n = 12) and one with 17 participants (males: n = 8, females: n = 9). Stimuli: solo singing and choir | OXT was significantly reduced after choir singing but did not change in response to solo singing | |
| OXT showed high intra-individual stability, whereas C fluctuated between days in the same participant | ||||
| OXT concentration decreased significantly after chorus but did not change in solo singing. | ||||
| OXT: Solo singing↑, Choir↓ | ||||
| 2017 | Ooishi et al. (2017) | Subjects: 26 healthy men (mean age 29 years). Stimuli: slow-tempo music and fast-tempo music | OXT increased in the slow-tempo music sequence. | |
| C decreased after listening to the fast-tempo music sequence | ||||
| 2017 | Yuhi et al. (2017) | Subjects: 23 boys and 5 girls (aged 8–15 years). Stimuli: Taiko (Japanese drum) performance | OXT concentrations were increased to various degrees after the activity sessions | |
| 2021 | Dağli and Çelik (2022) | Subjects: 73 mothers with premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Stimuli: music intervention, oxytocin massage intervention and control | Mother’s milk production was substantially higher during the music session than other session, which was followed by oxytocin massage sessions | |
| 2021 | Eerola et al. (2021) | Subjects: 62 women (divided into a low characteristic empathy group and a high characteristic empathy group). Stimuli: sad music or nothing | When compared with the no music condition, the high empathy group’s PRL and OT levels were significantly lower after listening to music | |
| The high empathy group reported a more positive mood and higher ratings of being moved by the music than the low empathy group | ||||
| No significant changes in C and adrenocorticotropic hormone | ||||
| 2021 | Greenberg et al. (2021) | Review Article | ||
| 2022 | Bowling et al. (2022) | Subjects: young adult choir (n = 71). Stimuli: vocal production mode (singing vs. speaking) and social context (together vs. alone) | T was not significantly different (measured in male subjects only). | |
| OXT decreased after each condition; significantly greater decreases were observed for speaking than for singing | ||||
| 2022 | Cohen and Nuemann (2022) | Critique of Greenberg et al. (2021) | Greenberg et al. (2021) hypothesised that music increases oxytocin levels, reduces social isolation and promotes social connectedness | |
| However, Greenberg et al. did not cite previous studies accurately and their hypothesis remains uncertain | ||||
| According to previous research, considerable uncertainty remains concerning the oxytocin response to music, such as oxytocin levels being reduced or unchanged by music (group singing) | ||||
| 2022 | Osório et al. (2022) | Subjects: 54 male professional singers with different levels of musical performance anxiety (42% high) | OXT administration during the performance and immediately after stress resulted in significantly more positive ratings of the performance than under placebo conditions. In contrast, placebo conditions resulted in more negative ratings | |
| Stimuli: intranasal OXT (24 IU), placebo | OXT minimises social stress, particularly during performance | |||
| 2022 | Palumbo et al. (2022) | Subjects: 30 adults with post-stroke hemiparesis | Oxytocin levels did not change significantly in either group | |
| Conditions: Music Upper Limb Therapy-Integrated (MULT-I), home exercise programme. |