ABSTRACT

THE EFFECTS OF BINAURAL AUDITORY BEATS ON THE

PAIN AND ANXIETY LEVEL OF WOMEN

IN THE ACTIVE PHASE OF LABOR

Angelica S. Vallejo, Carl Michael A. Bautista, Stephanie A. Epino,

Paolo B. Soriano, Sandra S. Ugalingan, Kimberly L. Diaz-Yanez

Marlene R. Padua R.N., M.A.N.

Research Adviser

Introduction

Childbirth is the most significant event that can occur in a woman’s life,

but it’s also the one that inflicts the greatest physical pain – labor pain. And with

great pain, comes great anxiety. The very core of the practice of nursing is act of

caring. Nurses must not only treat, but also provide holistic care to their clients.

The pain and anxiety associated with labor is often overlooked, and it is in this

light that the researchers opted to conduct this study. Their objective was to

determine and evaluate the effects of binaural auditory beats on the pain and
anxiety level of women in the active phase of labor. The study aims to specifically

answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents?

2. What is the level of pain of the respondents before listening to Binaural

Auditory Beats?

3. What is the level of pain of the respondents after listening to Binaural

Auditory Beats?

4. Is there a significant difference between the level of pain of the respondents

before and after listening to Binaural Auditory Beats?

5. What is the level of anxiety of the respondents before listening to Binaural

Auditory Beats?

6. What is the level of anxiety of the respondents after listening to Binaural

Auditory Beats?

7. Is there a significant difference between the level of anxiety of the

respondents before and after listening to Binaural Auditory Beats?

Research Methodology

The researchers utilized the Quasi-Experimental research design and

adopted a non-probability, convenience sampling technique. The respondents of

the study were women of ages twenty (20) to forty (40), who are currently in the

active phase of labor at the time of the study. It involved six (6) participants in

total. The respondents were selected by the researchers to assess the effects of
binaural auditory beats on the pain and anxiety level of women in the active

phase of labor.

The study was initiated after gaining the approval of the Ethics Review

Board of Arellano University and getting the permission of the chosen lying-in

clinic from which, the researchers would conduct the experiment.

The researchers would first conduct a profiling of possible respondents

who met the inclusion criteria and eligible for the study. The researchers then

explained the intervention and the procedure for the experiment to possible

participants. The researchers made sure to tell the participants that they can

choose to not participate in the study.

After getting the respondent’s consent, the researchers made a pre-

assessment on the participant’s pain and anxiety level, utilizing the Numeric

Pain Rating Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, to get a

baseline assessment.

Afterwards, the researchers then administered the intervention through

the use of earphones. After 15 minutes of uninterrupted listening, the

researchers conducted their post-assessment on the pain and anxiety levels of

the respondents. At the end of the experiment, the researchers documented the

findings based on the assessments made.

Results and Discussion

Table 9

Summary Table of Pre-Test and Post-Test Findings

Pain Pain Anxiety (Pre- Anxiety (Post-

Respondent
(Pre-test) (Post-test) test) test)
A 8 out of 10 7 out of 10 17 out of 21 6 out of 21

B 4 out of 10 6 out of 10 8 out of 21 3 out of 21

C 9 out of 10 9 out of 10 13 out of 21 6 out of 21

*D 9 out of 10 9 out of 10 21 out of 21 14 out of 21

*E 10 out of 10 7 out of 10 21 out of 21 10 out of 21

*F 9 out of 10 8 out of 10 21 out of 21 15 out of 21

(The presence of an asterisk (*) beside the letter denotes that the respondent

is a primigravid. No asterisk (*) means that the respondent is

secondiparous.)

Prior to the intervention, respondents A, C, and D were experiencing severe

pain. Respondent E, a primigravid patient, was the only respondent who has

reported that she was experiencing the worst pain imaginable. Respondent B, on

the other hand, only experienced a pain level of 4, which fell under moderate

pain. After the intervention, respondent A went from pain level 8 to pain level 7.

Respondent E’s pain level also plummeted from 10 to 7. And lastly, respondent

F’s pain level experienced a slight decrease, from 9 to 8. Respondent B, the only
one who experienced a moderate pain level before the intervention, is also the

sole respondent who had experienced an increase in pain level after listening to

the beats. Respondents C and D did not report any changes to their pain level

even after the intervention was administered.

For their anxiety levels, all of the primiparous respondents (D, E and F)

were experiencing an anxiety level of 21, translated as severe anxiety. The

researchers had observed several objective cues relating to the presence of

anxiety in the respondents such as moaning, facial grimacing and presence of

sweat on their forehead even when there were no contractions. Respondent A, a

para two (2), was also experiencing an anxiety level of 17, which still falls under

the severe anxiety range. Despite having an increased pain level, Respondent B

only reported to experience mild anxiety. Lastly, Respondent C’s anxiety level

score was 13, which falls under the moderate anxiety range. Post-intervention,

the respondents all reported a big decrease in their anxiety levels. Two of the

primigravids’ (D and F), anxiety levels went from having severe anxiety down to

moderate anxiety. Respondent E, also a primigravid, reported that her anxiety

level went from severe to mild. Respondents B and C went from having their

anxiety in the moderate level down to having no anxiety at all. And lastly,

Respondent A went from having an anxiety level score of 17 down to 6, which is

translated as normal in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Conclusions

In light of the findings, the researchers came up with the following

conclusions:

1. Binaural auditory beats is not effective in reducing the pain level of the

women in the active phase of labor.

2. Binaural auditory beats is effective in reducing the anxiety level of

women in the active phase of labor.

Recommendations

1. For patients, specifically women in labor, to have an option in

alleviating any anxieties brought about by labor and ultimately, have a

better perception of the whole birthing process.

2. For nurses and midwives to have an additional low-cost, non-

pharmacological anxiety management as they provide holistic care for

women in labor.

3. For nursing students to educate themselves further in the importance

of using non-pharmacological methods in providing comfort to their

patients and alleviating their anxiety.

4. For future researchers to gather more information on the same topic

but with more emphasis on the following suggested adjustments:

a. Use of a larger sample size to increase generalizability.

b. Longer exposure of the respondents to binaural beats in order to

yield more comparable results and overall conclusion on the degree

of anxiety and pain reduction.