Baroque classical music can improve mood, productivity

Washington, April 23 (ANI): A new study on radiologists has suggested that playing baroque classical music in the reading room can help improve mood and productivity.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, MD, Harbor Hospital in Baltimore, MD, and the University of Pennsylvania Health System in Philadelphia, PA.

Eight radiologists participated in the study and rated their mood, concentration, perceived diagnostic accuracy, productivity and work satisfaction on a seven point scale.

"The greatest positive effects were noted with regard to mood and work satisfaction, with 63 percent and 50 percent of respondents reporting a positive impact," said Sohaib Mohiuddin, MD, and Paras Lakhani, MD, lead authors of the study.

"No participants indicated a negative effect on mood, perceived diagnostic accuracy, productivity or work satisfaction. Only one participant (12.5 percent) indicated a negative effect of music on concentration," they added.

Mohiuddin said: "Given the increased workload of today's radiologists, we were interested in looking at environmental factors that could improve the work environment for today's busy radiology reading rooms."

Lakhani added: "Other studies have correlated baroque classical music with improved spatial reasoning, attentiveness and concentration and personally, I have found that listening to music aids my concentration and interpretative abilities. We are currently performing a larger study with more subjects to validate these results."

This study will be presented at the 2009 ARRS Annual Meeting in Boston, MA, on Monday, April 27. (ANI)