Background:

Music is thought to be beneficial as a sleep aid. However, little research has explicitly investigated the specific characteristics of music that aid sleep and some researchers assume that music described as generically sedative (slow, with low rhythmic activity) is necessarily conducive to sleep, without directly interrogating this assumption. This study aimed to ascertain the features of music that aid sleep.

Method:

As part of an online survey, 161 students reported the pieces of music they had used to aid sleep, successfully or unsuccessfully. The participants reported 167 pieces, some more often than others. Nine features of the pieces were analyzed using a combination of music information retrieval methods and aural analysis.

Results:

Of the pieces reported by participants, 78% were successful in aiding sleep. The features they had in common were that (a) their main frequency register was middle range frequencies; (b) their tempo was medium; (c) their articulation was legato; (d) they were in the major mode, and (e) lyrics were present. They differed from pieces that were unsuccessful in aiding sleep in that (a) their main frequency register was lower; (b) their articulation was legato, and (c) they excluded high rhythmic activity.

Conclusion:

Music that aids sleep is not necessarily sedative music, as defined in the literature, but some features of sedative music are associated with aiding sleep. In the present study, we identified the specific features of music that were reported to have been successful and unsuccessful in aiding sleep. The identification of these features has important implications for the selection of pieces of music used in research on sleep.

中文翻译：

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助睡眠的音乐功能

背景：

音乐被认为是有益的睡眠帮助。但是，很少有研究明确研究有助于睡眠的音乐的特定特征，一些研究人员认为，被描述为一般性镇静音乐（缓慢，节奏低的活动）的音乐必然有助于睡眠，而没有直接质疑这一假设。这项研究旨在确定有助于睡眠的音乐特征。

方法：

作为一项在线调查的一部分，有161名学生成功或失败地报告了他们曾经用来帮助睡眠的音乐。参与者报告了167件，其中有些比其他的多。音乐信息检索方法和听觉分析相结合，分析了作品的九种特征。

结果：

在参与者报告的作品中，有78％成功地帮助了睡眠。他们的共同特点是：（a）他们的主要频率寄存器是中频频率；（b）他们的节奏中等；（c）他们的发音是连奏；（d）它们处于主要模式，并且（e）存在歌词。它们与未能帮助睡眠的片段有所不同，因为（a）其主要频率寄存器较低；（b）他们的发音是连奏，并且（c）他们排除了高节奏活动。

结论：

辅助睡眠的音乐不一定是文献中所定义的镇静音乐，而是镇静音乐的某些功能与辅助睡眠有关。在本研究中，我们确定了据报道在帮助睡眠方面已成功且未成功的音乐的特定特征。这些特征的识别对于选择用于睡眠研究的音乐具有重要的意义。