The Science of Synchronous Music 

What is synchronous music?

Simply put, synchronous music means that the beats in the music and some exercise-related movements are aligned, that is, they have the same speed. When referring to music speed this way, the term sports scientists prefer is tempo. In practice, the athlete can then synchronize their movements (running, walking, rowing, cycling, swimming, etc.) with the music. The music creates a kind of blueprint for movement that the scientific literature often refers to as cueing. Although music, synchronized or not, can create a fantastic distraction during exercise that can make it more enjoyable, synchronous music has several advantages. Decades of research have demonstrated results such as:

  • lower oxygen consumption during exercise (2)

  • improved exercise economy/efficiency (8)

  • a reduction in the perception of effort (8)

  • greater time to exhaustion (6)

  • spontaneous synchronization of cadence with music (10)

A notable anecdote often repeated to bring home the point is Haile Gebrselassie’s world record performance in track and field while listening to the song Scatman and matching his cadence to it.

Leading sports scientist Prof Costas Karagheorghis puts it plainly, synchronous music is like “a kind of legal performance enhancing drug.” For this reason, at least in part, many endurance organizing bodies ban the use of music during competition (e.g., Ironman). For a comprehensive discussion of music’s potential in exercise, see the two excellent papers by Karageorghis and Priest (2012) (3, 4).

Therapeutic applications 

  • Interestingly, these same concepts are applied to improve health outcomes in people suffering from a variety of conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD) (5), multiple sclerosis (MS) (7) , and stroke (11), with applications primarily in gait rehabilitation. For a variety of historical and technical reasons, when applied this way, the concept is known as rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS). RAS is an extraordinary tool for improving functional outcomes in disease sufferers and can include highly sophisticate techniques that go beyond even synchronous music as described above. That said, there is an enormous overlap between the two with personal music and tempo shifting being at the heart of both. The application and study of RAS has led to a considerably greater understanding of how music influences movement, with applications for both rehabilitation and exercise. Some of the revelations include the following: (9, 1, 12)

  • Auditory-motor coupling occurs at the neurological level and involves common brain regions. Subsequently, listening to musical rhythm facilitates motor function (e.g., movement

  • Music can stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain.

  • Music further stimulates regions in the spine that subconsciously coordinate walking.

  • Musical beat detection can prime movement improving movement efficiency.

  • Musical phrasing can smooth the movement period creating cues when ordinary movement quality is affected. 

Why isn’t synchronous music a well-known training tool?

So far, this concept has remained squarely in the domain of research. The reason is straightforward; it’s hard for an individual to actually apply to their training. To use synchronous music, an athlete or individual needs to 1) determine their current cadence 2) purchase/procure music they enjoy 3) determine the original tempo of the music and 4) apply some digital signal processing technique to change the tempo of their music to their target tempo without introducing any unwanted artifacts like the chipmunk effect. 5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 for every song in each playlist. This also must be done with respect to any copyright or digital rights management encryption on the music. In practice, this is only ever done in a research setting where these steps are taken care of for the athlete by someone else.

Musical selection (step 2) in particular has always been a huge stumbling block in the application of synchronous music. Clumsy solutions to this have included researchers selecting music on behalf of participants, limited catalogs of music from which people are forced to choose, or contrived and generic custom music from a few limited genres (usually electronic dance music) which are all incapable of delivering a long term, beneficial experience.

Occasionally, very motivated individuals will create their own playlists, putting together music they find motivating and hovering somewhere in the vicinity of what “feels right” in terms of music tempo. Aligning personal music with personal cadence requirements in such a way never produces accurate results, mainly because individual song tempos never match perfectly. If you’ve ever seen a club DJ at work, this is something they spend a lot of their time focusing on.

Tempony

Here comes the not-so-shameless self-promotion. After over a decade considering these concepts in the context of research, we synthesized the lessons learned into Tempony. The 5 steps listed above are all handled within the app itself with a minimum of user involvement required. Along the way, we created a completely new way of efficiently analyzing cadence in a variety of disciplines (walking, running, cycling, and wheelchair) using only the sensors in the device/phone. But our biggest advancement has been the integration of the 100 million song catalog in Apple Music. This is the first time such a feature has been possible giving access not only to almost any song someone might like, regardless of age/genre/preference, but to the powerful recommendation engine and infinite playlist functions users now take for granted with the advent of streaming services.

Conclusion 

Synchronous music is a powerful tool that can significantly improve the exercise experience or even become part of a gait rehabilitation program. Its widespread application has been limited by how time intensive and cumbersome a process it can be.

We think we’ve taken care of the technical part. We’ve shown it to Prof Karagheorghis and gotten a nod of approval.  Synchronous music no longer needs to be the secret domain of researchers and a few elite coaches. The next part is getting the word out and getting users to try and experience synchronous music for themselves.

References 

1.        Altenmüller E, Schlaug G. Apollo's gift. In: Progress in Brain Research. Elsevier; 2015 p. 237–52.

2.        Bacon CJ, Myers TR, Karageorghis C. Effect of Music-Movement Synchrony on Exercise Oxygen Consumption. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2012;52(4):359–65.

3.        Karageorghis CI, Priest D-L. Music in the Exercise Domain: A Review and Synthesis (Part I). Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol  2012;5(1):44–66.

4.        Karageorghis CI, Priest D-L. Music in the Exercise Domain: A Review and Synthesis (Part II). Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol  2012;5(1):67–84.

5.        Lim I, van Wegen E, de Goede C, et al. Effects of external rhythmical cueing on gait in patients with Parkinson's disease: a systematic review. Clin Rehabil 2005;19(7):695–713.

6.        Nikol L, Kuan G, Ong M, Chang Y-K, Terry PC. The Heat Is On: Effects of Synchronous Music on Psychophysiological Parameters and Running Performance in Hot and Humid Conditions. Front Psychol 2018;9:1114.

7.        Shahraki M, Sohrabi M, Taheri Torbati HR, Nikkhah K, NaeimiKia M. Effect of rhythmic auditory stimulation on gait kinematic parameters of patients with multiple sclerosis. J Med Life 2017;10(1):33–7.

8.        Terry PC, Karageorghis CI, Saha AM, D’Auria S. Effects of Synchronous Music on Treadmill Running Among Elite Triathletes [Internet]. J Sci Med Sport 2012;15(1):52–7. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244011001186

9.        Thaut MH, McIntosh GC, Hoemberg V. Neurobiological Foundations of Neurologic Music Therapy: Rhythmic Entrainment and the Motor System. Front Psychol 2015;5(1885):1–6.

10.      Van Dyck E, Moens B, Buhmann J, et al. Spontaneous Entrainment of Running Cadence to Music Tempo. Sports Medicine - Open 2015;:1–14.

11.      Wang L, Peng J-L, Xiang W, Huang Y-J, Chen A-L. Effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation on motor function and balance ability in stroke: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical randomized controlled studies. Front Neurosci 2022;16:1043575.

12.      Witek MAG, Clarke EF, Wallentin M, Kringelbach ML, Vuust P. Syncopation, Body-Movement and Pleasure in Groove Music. PLoS ONE 2014;9(4):e94446–12.