Patient awakening from surgery using the surgical serenity headphones

People have known for millennia that music, sound, and vibration can have a soothing, calming effect.  The first music created by humans was probably created to imitate the sounds of nature that we knew were soothing and calming: birdsongs, waves lapping the shore, wind through the trees, a babbling brook—all of these were thought to be calming and comforting.

Today, we are taking calming, therapeutic music into the surgical suite, to calm and soothe the jangled nerves of the patient about to have surgery. An innovative clinical musicologist has created and patented a process to provide this music, through cordless headphones, or MP3players to the patient throughout the perioperative period.

The Existing Medical Research

A clinical trial was conducted at the Veterans Hospital here in Louisville, Kentucky.  Veterans undergoing major abdominal surgery wore our Surgical Serenity Solutions lightweight, pre-loaded, headphones before, during and after the surgery, and into recovery.  The results were impressive.

The MOST exciting result was a statistically significant decrease in opioid consumption after the surgery was completed. This was important because the opioid epidemic has been raging now for decades it is exciting to know that listening to this therapeutic playlist through cordless headphones can make a significant difference.

The veterans really enjoyed the music too. Many of them initially asked for rock and roll or country music. The experimenter, Dr. Marina Varbanova, an anesthesiologist,  explained that when a patient is having surgery it is best to use calming music that is purely instrumental and does not have a lot of associations. In a way, this is the opposite of music therapy where a one on one relationship is created and the music therapist tries to determine what kind of music the patients prefers and achieve positive therapeutic goals by playing the music that has positive associations for them.

Once the veterans understood the purpose of the music for surgery, they were fine with the classical playlist and several responded that they didn’t realize until then that they really do like classical music. This published study can be read at https://www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Our-SSS-study.pdf  

Using the Therapeutic Playlists in places other than surgery

Insomnia seems to be a serious problem for lots of people these days. Although we do have a specific “Lullaby Playlist,” since these 5 therapeutic playlists were created for the surgical patient who is being put to sleep, any of them have a very soothing and soporific effect.

Men and women have reported that they fell asleep quickly and stayed asleep for longer than usual when they used this music at home.

Now that we have each playlist available in a mobile app format, (www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/calm) you can listen with your own earbuds or through a nearby bluetooth speaker, playing very softly.

In addition to actual surgical procedures and insomnia, there are in-hospital procedures such as colonoscopies, labor and delivery, and even blood draws. For the patient having these procedures, we offer the preloaded, cordless, fully self-contained headphones that the patient can use over and over, even at the dentist. To get those, go to www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/headphones.

For the hospital staff, we now have our five therapeutic playlists available on small MP3 players that can be branded for the hospital and actually give to the patient after their surgery or procedure!  When hospitals do this, the first order can come out of the marketing budget! To see or purchase, go to www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/MP3players.

No matter whether you’re the patient, the surgeon, or the hospital, we can help!  Music can make a tremendous difference in terms of reducing the amount of pain medication, anxiety medication, and recovery time. Research has documented this.

Apps: www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/calm

Preloaded headphones: www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/headphones

Preloaded MP3 players: www.surgicalserenitysolutions.com/MP3players

Please let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks for reading!