Perception of complex sound is a process carried out in everyday life situations and contributes in the way one perceives reality. Attempting to explain sound perception and how it affects human beings is complicated. Physics of simple sound can be described as a function of frequency, amplitude and phase. Psychology of sound, also termed psychoacoustics, has its own distinct elements of pitch, intensity and tibre. An interconnection exists between physics and psychology of hearing.

Music being a complex sound contributes to communication and conveys information with semantic and emotional elements. These elements indicate the involvement of the central nervous system through processes of integration and interpretation together with peripheral auditory processing.

Effects of sound and music in human psychology and physiology are complicated. Psychological influences of listening to different types of music are based on the different characteristics of basic musical sounds. Attempting to explain music perception can be simpler if music is broken down to its basic auditory signals. Perception of auditory signals is analyzed by the science of psychoacoustics. Differences in complex sound perception have been found between normal subjects and psychiatric patients and between different types of psychopathologies.

Musical Training Might Be Good For The Heart

Musical training might be good for the heart, suggests asmall study, which shows that it is musical tempo, rather than style,that is the greatest stress buster.

Neuroendocrine responses of healthy volunteers to 'techno-music': relationships with personality traits and emotional state.

Sept. 30, 2005 � Properly selected music can be an alternative relaxation technique that may have cardiovascular benefit, according to the results of a study published in the Sept. 30 Online First issue of Heart.

"Music might induce changes in the cardiovascular and respiratory systems of potential clinical use, particularly in modulating stress," write Luciano Bernardi, MD, from the University of Pavia in Italy, and colleagues. "Music can reduce stress, improve athletic performance, motor function in neurologically impaired patients with stroke or parkinsonism, or milk production in cattle."

Learning a musical instrument could be good for the heart, a study suggests.

Italian and British researchers compared the effect of a range of pieces, from Beethoven to techno, on musicians and non-musicians.

The general problem of this study was to determine the effect, if any, music may have on heart rate, lap pace, and perceived exertion rate (RPE) between trained and untrained subjects during a 20-minute self-paced run.

Twelve male college students ranging from ages 18 - 23 served as participants in this study. These subjects were selected from a college with 1,200 students. The twelve subjects were divided into two experimental groups. Experimental Group A consisted of six subjects that were considered untrained individuals, (untrained - subjects that don't partake in exercise, or very limited amounts of exercise.) Experimental Group B consisted of six subjects that were considered trained individuals because they exercise by running more than 3 times a week while reaching or exceeding their target heart rate. The twelve subjects signed an informed consent agreeing to be participants in this study. There was no pre or post-test taken, that affected the rate at which subjects completed the 20-minute run. The data was collected, analyzed and condensed statically to measure, the differences and similarities within heart rate/perceived exertion/lap pace between music and non-music times. The statistical process that was used to analysis the collected data was Microsoft Excel, while using t-test for two samples means.

In summary, music did have a noticeable effect on the paces both trained and untrained subjects exercised. It is believed that heart rate and rating of perceived exertion significance was only seen in untrained subjects but not in trained subjects because of source of error problems. Further research is suggested in this field to see the effects that music has on different groupings of subjects while listening to different forms of music. Research is also recommended to find the effects music has on certain types of athletic performance.