If you hate needles, music might make you feel better during a cannula insertion—but it has to be the right kind of music. Although different musical interventions have repeatedly been reported to help with pain and stress, the evidence varies widely for different types of music, and it’s hard to figure out what works best. To investigate, scientists played different kinds of music for patients about to undergo an intravenous cannula insertion before an MRI—either Mozart, relaxation music or the patients’ own favorite tunes. They found that playing patients’ favorite music worked best.

“Although a needle puncture is a minor procedure, the level of pain can vary significantly from person to person,” said Dr. Andrei Cristinel Dragnea of University Hospital Zürich, lead author of the article in Frontiers in Pain Research. “In modern medicine, the goal of treating physicians is not only to provide a successful diagnosis and therapy, but also to ensure that the procedure causes as little discomfort as possible.”

“I would recommend listening to music to patients, especially patients who like music in general,” said Dr. Meritxell Garcia Alzamora of University Hospital Zürich, senior author of the article. “In view of our results, we will increase the application of music in venous punctures performed for radiological procedures, especially in anxious or claustrophobic patients.”