PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Pain Res.
Sec. Non-Pharmacological Treatment of Pain
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpain.2025.1672412
This article is part of the Research TopicNon-biomedical Perspectives on Pain and its Prevention and Management – Volume IIView all 7 articles
Exploring Pain and Suffering Through Spatial Acousmatic Music: Innovative Perspectives Beyond Conventional Music Therapy
Provisionally accepted
- 1Leeds Beckett University School of Arts, Leeds, United Kingdom
- 2Centre for Pain Research, School of Health, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom
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In this perspective article we contend that acousmatic music, which departs from the traditional 'instrumental music paradigm' by obscuring or removing the origin of sounds, may deepen a person's understanding and expression of pain and suffering, offering therapeutic potential. We propose that intentional engagement with acousmatic music can reshape listening habits, articulate and reframe the meaning of bodily and emotional experiences, and alleviate distressing sensations, feelings and thoughts. We propose that acousmatic music evokes memories of previous psychological traumas, such as painful events, and by doing so can prompt listeners to curiously explore the meaning and purpose of distressing symptoms. We argue that creative engagement with acousmatic music may allow individuals to express their somatic, emotional, and cognitive experiences, potentially leading to a deeper understanding of their living experiences. We discuss future directions for research and practice. We offer readers a stereo reduction excerpt of acousmatic music to facilitate an appreciation of the unusual nature of acousmatic music composition (https://soundcloud.com/nikos-stavropoulos/topophilia).
Keywords: Pain, Acousmatic music, Music Therapy, Sound, Suffering, Emotional Memory
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 08 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Stavropoulos and Johnson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mark I. Johnson, Centre for Pain Research, School of Health, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom
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