THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT GENRES OF MUSIC ON BLOOD PRESSURE

In America, nearly 1/3 of the adult population or 70 million American adults have been diagnosed with the disease known as the silent killer: high blood pressure. This experiment was designed to determine whether or not different genres of music, which include classical, hip hop, and metal, have an effect on a person’s blood pressure. It was hypothesized, if classical, hip hop, and metal music were listened to, then a person’s diastolic blood pressure would go above the “resting” blood pressure for metal and hip hop but be lower than the “resting” blood pressure for classical music. Thirty people ages 30-70 rested for a total of three minutes before being tested by a blood pressure machine for their “resting” blood pressure. Next, they listened to their first genre of music, classical, for one minute. Once completed, a subject’s blood pressure was taken and they rested for another three minutes. This continued for the next two genres of music in the order of hip hop and metal. Trends in the data show classical had the most effect on blood pressure by making it decrease the most (-1.13mmHg), whereas, hip hop made blood pressure rise the most (1.06mmHg) with metal close behind (1.00mmHg). The results of the statistical t test of the 0.05 level of significance indicated that the differences observed were not statistically significant. Therefore the experimental hypothesis was not supported.