Music as medicine: Healing through sound and rhythm

It is on a Thursday morning when we walk into the hospital lobby at Avenue Hospital in Kisumu. A wave of cool air washes over us, a welcome contrast from the sweltering heat outside. The health facility is a beehive of activity from walk-ins seeking medical services to families and friends visiting their loved ones in wards. 

We are ushered into the maternity wing and are immediately welcomed by soothing music.  As we move towards the new born unit, the sounds of beeping machines in the room fitted with several incubators are almost in sync with the music.

Through the glass door, we catch a glimpse of two health workers in royal blue gowns tending to two cribs nestled within specialised machines. We later learn that the babies were born prematurely. 

 Seated on inclined seats in the next room are two women dressed in sky blue gowns. The two are humming to a gospel tune —Mkono wa Bwana, by the Zabron singers, a musical group from Tanzania. One of the ladies who only introduces herself as Mama Nevile has been in the facility for the last two weeks. At 28 weeks, her water broke, prompting a rushed trip to the hospital.

The doctors worked to stabilise her condition and that of the baby for a week at the maternity section. “I was scared and kept worrying about the baby’s wellbeing,” she says.

Night-time sleep proved elusive for Mama Nevile. Thankfully, doctors offered music therapy to ease her anxieties. “Music became my escape,” she explains. “Worries melted away and sleep returned. At times I would wake up in the middle of the night but music would be my immediate remedy. I would easily drift back to sleep,” she says.

After a week in hospital, she had to undergo an emergency caesarean section. By then, she had just clocked 29 weeks.

After the procedure, the baby was in need of milk, but yet again, the new mum could not express any. Despite medication, breast milk production remained a concern for Mama Nevile. Worries gnawed at her. Thankfully, nurses introduced music therapy. “It calmed me deeply,” she recalls. “Then, to my surprise, I felt milk starting to flow.”  “Music has worked magic for me, it cleared my mind from being lost in thoughts and relieved me of stress,” she says.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that mothers should be able to initiate breastfeeding within one hours of birth and continue until the baby is two years old.

A new mother may however fail to produce milk when she gives birth prematurely, has underlying medical conditions such as diabetes or has undergone caesarean section among other reasons.

The National Library of Medicine says that psychological distress including anxiety, depression and stress may also impair the release of oxytocin, a hormone that plays a major role in milk production during lactation.

“I am glad that my baby has been doing well in the nursery and I am hoping to be discharged soon since he has also been adding weight as he is well breastfed,” she says.

At the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a patient is lying unconscious on one of the beds. Yet again, soft music is playing from a speaker mounted on the hospital ceiling.

Ms Elizabeth Khavosa, a nurse in the ICU, says  music plays a critical role in both conscious and unconscious patients.

She explains that in the ward, conscious patients are allowed to make a selection of what they would like to listen to from the playlist.

For unconscious patients, however, she makes the choice of music while studying the patient’s vitals to know whether or not they like the song. “Usually there is a range of normal vital signs. At times, a patient may be having derailed vital signs but when you play them music, they get back to normal,” says Ms Khavosa.

She adds: “Vital signs include blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation in blood and breathing. A patient may be restless with a heart rate that exceeds 100. But when we play music, the patient often feels more relaxed; with their heart rate and pressure getting back to normal.” She adds that music helps to calm down agitated or restless patients. Ms Khavosa explains that in her nine-year experience working in the ICU, she has learnt to understand music that work for different groups of people.

John Kang’u, another staff at the facility, admits the role music played in ensuring he got back to his feet after suffering from severe ulcers. At one point, he stayed in the ICU for a month while undergoing a number of medical procedures. While on admission, he says he would request for gospel music to lift his spirit whenever he felt low.  Mr Kang’u reveals that music created a homely environment despite being in the hospital. The WHO says art and music can help one to emotionally navigate the journey of battling illness, injury and processing difficult emotions in times of emergency and challenging events.

The global health body further states that innovations incorporating the arts and health have been used to enhance physical and emotional support for resilience and wellbeing in communities, supporting therapeutic, rehabilitative and preventive efforts, creating awareness and contributing to emergency preparedness. Prof Kennedy Imbuki, a clinical psychologist, says music is more effective in controlling heart rate, blood pressure, anxiety, recovery and mood, but should be carefully selected.

“There is different music for different occasions,” he remarks. “From our research, we learnt that music should be calming, purposeful and played according to the time and season,” offers Prof Imbuki.

When playing music to patients, the clinical psychologist says a health provider should also consider age, gender and faith of the patient. The music should not be too high or low so that a client strains to get the message.

For instance, he says a stressed client or patient may not need calming music but a song that will lift their spirit.   Pianos, he says, should also be avoided since the notes are striking and may end up affecting a patient with anxiety or panic attack. Insomnia patients, he says, can use calming music in order to sleep.

“At Avenue Hospital, we have a central control room for music to ensure we only play whatever is in our playlist, which has been tried on other patients,” says the psychologist.

Prof Imbuki says one of the major advantages of using music is that it helps to relax a client before or after seeing a health expert. At the waiting room, it helps to reduce waiting time since the client’s mind is engaged.

He adds that music helps to create a positive homely environment for a patient; hence hastening the recovery process. “Music also helps in pain management since it keeps the patient destructed, pain is normally intense when we concentrate on the injury,” says Prof Imbuki.

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