The audio features of sleep music: universal and subgroup characteristics

TY - JOUR

T1 - The audio features of sleep music:

T2 - universal and subgroup characteristics

AU - Scarratt, Rebecca Jane

AU - Heggli, Ole Adrian

AU - Vuust, Peter

AU - Jespersen, Kira Vibe

PY - 2023/1

Y1 - 2023/1

N2 - Throughout history, lullabies have been used to help children sleep, and today, with the increasing accessibility of recorded music, many people report listening to music as a tool to improve sleep. Nevertheless, we know very little about this common human habit. In this study, we elucidated the characteristics of music associated with sleep by extracting audio features from a large number of tracks (N = 225,626) retrieved from sleep playlists at the global streaming platform Spotify. Compared to music in general, we found that sleep music was softer and slower; it was more often instrumental (i.e. without lyrics) and played on acoustic instruments. Yet, a large amount of variation was present in sleep music, which clustered into six distinct subgroups. Strikingly, three of the subgroups included popular tracks that were faster, louder, and more energetic than average sleep music. The findings reveal previously unknown aspects of the audio features of sleep music and highlight the individual variation in the choice of music used for sleep. By using digital traces, we were able to determine the universal and subgroup characteristics of sleep music in a unique, global dataset, advancing our understanding of how humans use music to regulate their behaviour in everyday life.

AB - Throughout history, lullabies have been used to help children sleep, and today, with the increasing accessibility of recorded music, many people report listening to music as a tool to improve sleep. Nevertheless, we know very little about this common human habit. In this study, we elucidated the characteristics of music associated with sleep by extracting audio features from a large number of tracks (N = 225,626) retrieved from sleep playlists at the global streaming platform Spotify. Compared to music in general, we found that sleep music was softer and slower; it was more often instrumental (i.e. without lyrics) and played on acoustic instruments. Yet, a large amount of variation was present in sleep music, which clustered into six distinct subgroups. Strikingly, three of the subgroups included popular tracks that were faster, louder, and more energetic than average sleep music. The findings reveal previously unknown aspects of the audio features of sleep music and highlight the individual variation in the choice of music used for sleep. By using digital traces, we were able to determine the universal and subgroup characteristics of sleep music in a unique, global dataset, advancing our understanding of how humans use music to regulate their behaviour in everyday life.

KW - Auditory Perception/physiology

KW - Child

KW - Habits

KW - Humans

KW - Music

KW - Music Therapy

KW - Sleep/physiology

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0278813

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0278813

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36652415

SN - 1932-6203

VL - 18

JO - P L o S One

JF - P L o S One

IS - 1

M1 - e0278813

ER -