Access to anxiety treatment remains uneven globally — long wait times, medication side effects, and cost keep many people from consistent care. Against that backdrop, a randomized clinical trial has found that a specific duration of music-based therapy can produce measurable reductions in anxiety symptoms within a single session.
The trial, conducted by psychology researchers Danielle K. Mullen and Frank A. Russo at Toronto Metropolitan University in partnership with digital therapeutics company LUCID, tested whether auditory beat stimulation (ABS) — a technique that uses rhythmic sound patterns to influence brain activity — could ease anxiety when embedded in specially designed music. The study enrolled 144 adults with moderate trait anxiety who were already taking medication to manage their symptoms.
What the Trial Tested
Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. One group listened to pink noise for 24 minutes as a control. The remaining three groups listened to music with ABS for 12, 24, or 36 minutes. Before and after each session, standardized assessments measured anxiety levels and mood across both cognitive and physical dimensions.
All three music-with-ABS groups outperformed the control. The 24-minute session, according to the announcement, produced the strongest overall reduction in anxiety — with effects comparable to the 36-minute session and clearly superior to the 12-minute session.
Both cognitive and somatic symptoms of anxiety dropped. Participants also reported improvements in negative mood.
The Dose-Response Finding
The pattern the researchers identified points to something specific: there appears to be an optimal listening length. “What we’re seeing is a dose-response pattern where about 24 minutes of music with ABS seems to be the sweet spot,” said Russo, Professor of Psychology at TMU and Chief Science Officer at LUCID. “It’s long enough to meaningfully shift anxiety levels, but not so long that listeners need to carve out a large block of time.”
The framing matters here. Existing first-line options — cognitive-behavioral therapy and pharmacological treatment — carry barriers including cost, availability, and time commitment. Music-based digital therapeutics, the researchers say, offer a low-cost, accessible alternative that requires no clinical setting and can be used almost anywhere.
The study targeted adults already on medication, meaning the population tested was one managing anxiety through existing treatment. The music-with-ABS intervention was studied as an addition to, not a replacement for, that care.
The findings were published in PLOS Mental Health on January 21, 2026, under the title “Investigating the dose-response relationship between music and anxiety reduction: A randomized clinical trial.”
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