Beliefs and practices regarding music's capacity to heal the mind, body, and spirit have a long history. Dating back to the Upper Paleolithic period, around 20,000 years ago, shamans and healers utilized music to address various ailments. However, in recent times, we have separated healing and music, viewing healing as the domain of doctors and music as mere entertainment. It is perhaps time to bring these two integral aspects of our lives together.

Reunifying Healing and Music: Scientific Advances

In the past decade, scientific progress has laid a rational foundation for this reunion. An increasing body of research has enabled us to transform anecdotes into evidence-based practices. In just the past two years, over 8,000 papers on this topic have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Music is now on an equal footing with prescription drugs, surgeries, and other mainstream treatments.Music has been used across millennia to alleviate a wide range of ailments, from chronic pain to depression and anxiety. It serves as a social bonding agent and an essential part of courtship and life-cycle ceremonies. In 2024, years of scientific research and conferences culminated in the answer to a seemingly simple question: Is music capable of providing proven medical effects? The resounding answer is a definite yes.We have demonstrated the effectiveness of music therapy and musical interventions in improving various health outcomes and promoting well-being. From treating Parkinson's and Alzheimer's to managing chronic pain and depression, music is no longer on the fringes of modern medicine. Major healthcare companies now have procedure codes for using music in hospital, clinical, and outpatient settings.

The Future of Music in Healthcare

In 2025, we will witness a renewed and revitalized use of this ancient remedy based on rigorous study results. We will start to see more sophisticated and nuanced applications of music for specific ailments and for enhancing immune system function and overall well-being.The future of music in healthcare extends from hospitals to homes, from treating illness to neurorehabilitation, mindfulness practices, and wellness. AI will play a significant role here, not in composing music but in selecting songs and genres that suit an individual's tastes and therapeutic and wellness goals. By extracting key features from music and matching them to an individual's preferences and needs, we can enter a new era of personalized music medicine. Just as an individual's DNA guides treatment decisions and the most effective drugs, AI may one day extract the DNA of music to precisely identify what music will help meet an individual's therapeutic needs.

Music and Biometrics: A Personalized Approach

Consider all the information about you in the cloud - your search history, location, social media interactions, and more. Certain companies also have insights into your music tastes, including what you listen to, what you skip, and the time and location of your listening. Smart devices that monitor your biometrics know your heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygenation level, respiration rate, skin conductance, and body temperature, as well as how these change with time and activities.Whether you're running, walking, climbing steps, driving, or sleeping, these devices know your activities and even the sleep stage you're in and how long you've been asleep. Soon, you'll have the option to subscribe to on-demand music based on your biometrics, with music tailored to calm you down, energize you for exercise, help you focus at work, or treat ailments like chronic pain, depression, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's.