Perioperative auditory stimulation in the recovery of patients receiving surgical care: a narrative review

Sound is ubiquitous, and it affects all aspects of life, such as relieving stress and causing harm. Moreover, sound has negative and positive effects on hospital patients or medical staff. With the global annual increase in surgical volumes, the effect of perioperative sound stimulation on patients receiving surgical care cannot be ignored. Therefore, this review aimed to summarise the positive and negative effects of perioperative sound on postoperative outcomes and offer recommendations for future management of intraoperative and postoperative procedures. The effect of auditory stimuli on patients receiving surgical care has been demonstrated, showing that perioperative music reduces preoperative anxiety in patients receiving perioperative care. Additionally, intraoperative noise impedes effective communication among medical personnel and negatively influences postoperative outcomes in patients, such as increased postoperative pain and increased susceptibility to sensorineural hearing loss. Postoperative noise can reduce patients' sleep quality and easily cause sleep disorders, which can lead to reduced postoperative pain sensitivity. Conversely, using perioperative music or other positive stimuli alleviates postoperative pain, anxiety, and delirium in patients. In the future, sound stimulation can be used as an effective dual-purpose tool to mitigate the detrimental effects of unnecessary noise pollution in hospitals through noise isolation techniques and other measures and as a non-pharmacological intervention to improve perioperative outcomes in patients, thereby offering additional advantages for medical services and perioperative rehabilitation.