Listening to music in the crisis - participants wanted for study

"I was fully immersed in planning the first study on the topic of music and stress, and initially I actually wanted to investigate how the stress hormone cortisol changes when listening to music. But that was going to take time. The idea of starting another part of my work came at just the right time," says Röse, a doctoral student at the Institute of Music at the University of Kassel. With a great deal of support from PD Dr. Julia Merrill and her doctoral supervisor Professor Dr. Jan Hemming, she created an online questionnaire on "Music Listening Behavior in the Covid 19 Crisis."

Whereas previously the focus had been on the physical impact of music on stress, her current research question revolves first around the psychological. Röse wants to know how music is used during a crisis, whether to calm, distract or even stimulate. The moments when music is listened to might also change, as everyday routines, such as the car ride to work, fall away, or some people are alone more often, while others now spend much more time with their children.

And what does the doctoral student notice about her own music listening habits? "Currently, I listen to music while doing housework. Otherwise, my listening behavior has changed in that I have less time to listen to music because I'm so busy with the study now," says Röse.

It is still possible to take part in Natalie Röse's study - no matter what age the participant is or what genre of music they prefer.

Click here for the study: https://umfrage.uni-kassel.de/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=585452&lang=en