Listening to AC/DC makes surgeons faster and more accurate, study finds
LISTENING to rockers AC/DC makes surgeons faster and more accurate, research reveals.
Blasting their music through speakers almost doubled surgeons’ speed at certain tasks in the operating theatre — without affecting their exactness.
In trials, those listening to Highway To Hell and T.N.T. saw the time needed to make a precision cut drop from 236 seconds to 139.
And they did around five per cent better on tests of accuracy.
Doctors were almost 50 per cent quicker stitching up wounds when The Beatles’ hits Hey Jude and Let It Be were played in the background — but the positive effect was lost if those tracks were played loud.
Experts claim popular rock tunes boost performance by easing stress, relaxing muscles, combating anxiety, and even lowering blood pressure.
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Writing in journal Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery, lead researcher Cui Yang from Heidelberg University, Germany, said: “Our results show that both soft rock and hard rock can enhance surgical performance.
“For hard rock music, the positive effect was especially noticeable when the music was played in high volume.
“It is possible that music with high rhythmicity could provide a tempo to keep up the speed of the performance and thus enhance task performance.”
Music is played in around two-thirds of operations.
