A song can change your stomach. In a new experimental study from Southwest University in China, researchers found that listening to joyful or soft music reduced motion sickness symptoms by more than half in participants exposed to a driving simulator, while sad music actually slowed recovery.
The findings, published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, suggest that music could provide a non-invasive, low-cost alternative to medication for the millions of people who struggle with carsickness, seasickness, or flight nausea.
When the Road Starts to Spin
Thirty young adults who reported moderate susceptibility to motion sickness were wired with EEG caps and placed in a driving simulator designed to induce carsickness. After the virtual drive left them queasy, participants were randomly assigned to hear one of four kinds of music—joyful, soft, passionate, or sad—or to sit quietly in silence. One control group had their simulator stopped before they felt sick, providing baseline EEG readings.
“Motion sickness significantly impairs the travel experience for many individuals, and existing pharmacological interventions often carry side-effects such as drowsiness,” explained Dr Qizong Yue of Southwest University, corresponding author of the study. “Music represents a non-invasive, low-cost, and personalized intervention strategy.”
The results were striking. Joyful music reduced reported carsickness by 57.3 percent, nearly matched by soft music at 56.7 percent. Passionate music provided moderate relief at 48.3 percent. Sad music, however, cut symptoms by only 40 percent—less than the 43.3 percent improvement reported by the quiet rest group. In other words, a mournful ballad left people feeling worse than doing nothing at all.
What the Brain Revealed
EEG data pointed to the brain’s occipital lobe, the region responsible for processing vision, as a key site of change during motion sickness. Participants who reported feeling sick showed reduced complexity in their EEG signals, a marker of disrupted neural activity. The more their discomfort eased, the more their brain activity returned to baseline.
Soft music appeared to work by calming tension and increasing alpha brain wave activity, while joyful music may have engaged reward circuits that distracted participants from discomfort. By contrast, sad music likely amplified negative emotions, compounding the misery of dizziness and nausea.
“Based on our conclusions, individuals experiencing motion sickness symptoms during travel can listen to cheerful or gentle music to achieve relief,” said Yue. “The findings of this study likely extend to motion sickness experienced during air or sea travel.”
Limits and Next Steps
The study was small, with only 30 participants, and conducted in a simulated driving environment rather than on real roads, ships, or airplanes. Yue and colleagues acknowledge that more research is needed with larger, more diverse groups and in real-world settings. They also hope to explore whether personal musical preferences influence the effect.
Still, the work hints at a simple remedy for travelers: skip the sad songs when you feel sick. Put on something bright and uplifting instead, and your stomach may thank you.
Explainer: Why Music Affects Motion Sickness
Motion sickness arises from a conflict between what your eyes see and what your inner ear senses. This mismatch confuses the brain, triggering nausea, dizziness, and sweating. Music can help in two ways: soft, gentle music lowers stress and muscle tension, while joyful music activates reward pathways that can distract from discomfort. Sad music may have the opposite effect by reinforcing negative emotions and making symptoms feel worse. While not a cure, the right playlist may ease recovery without the side effects of medication.
Journal: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1636109
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