Piped in jazz music and periods of silence may be pain management tools, according to an article on the Becker's Infection Control and Clinical Quality website.
Researchers at Penn State Milton S. Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center studied the effect of jazz music and noise cancelling headphones on patients who underwent elective hysterectomies.
After 20 minutes, patients listening to jazz had lower heart rates, but patients wearing the headphones reported lower pain scores than jazz listeners after 10 minutes.