Melissa taking someone's heart rate after listening to music
Activity

The Heartbeat of Music

Hands-on activity for students who are blind or visually impaired to explore what kind of music lowers heartrate.

This science project was done by Melissa, who is a student at Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI).


Question

Which music will lower heart rate most: latino, classical, or pop?

Hypothesis: 

At first I had chosen latino music as the music which would lower stress and heart rate because I like latino music best, but after doing research I switched to classical based on the research.  I learned that a hypothesis should be based on research.

Materials

Procedure

  1. Gather the materials.
  2. Measure each person’s beats per minute.
  3. Grab each individuals wrist and place the heart monitor on their wrist.
  4. Write down the information on the data table.
  5. Repeat the process with the other individuals.
  6. Get earbuds and give them to the individuals.
  7. Play the latino song.
  8. Take the individual’s pulse to see if the pulse has change the same way you we you did in step 3.
  9. Record information on the data table.
  10. Wait 20 seconds then play classical music for 30 seconds.
  11. Repeat step 8 and step 9.
  12. Wait 20 seconds then play pop music for 30 seconds the same way you did in step 10.
  13. Repeat steps 8 and 9 again.
  14. Continue this process for the next 9 individuals, repeating steps 6 one through 13.
  15. Look at data and compare it to hypothesis.
  16. See if hypothesis was correct based on data then draw conclusion.
  17. Clean up the area.

Data

Average change in heart rate :

Musical score
Musical score

Conclusion

The hypothesis was supported by my data because classical had a decrease of 2.7 BPM more than the other two genres of music.

Variations

Other types of music could be tested.

NGSS Standards:

By Laura Hospitál

Return to Accessible Science main page.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
outline image of special eye protection glasses worn when watching a solar eclipse.
Activity

Eclipse Soundscapes and low vision

Flaring sun with a black moon moving in front of the sun in a dark sky.
Article

Solar eclipse and Eclipse Soundscapes app

Clay shapes modeling the phases of the moon
Activity

Phases of the Moon Using Clay