Effects of Listening to Binaural Beats on Anxiety Levels and Pain Scores in Male Patients Undergoing Cystoscopy and Ureteral Stent Removal: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.

To investigate the effects of pure binaural beats on anxiety and pain scores in male patients undergoing diagnostic cystoscopy (DC) and ureteral stent removal (USR) under local anesthesia. This was a prospective, randomized placebo-controlled study. Patients in the DC group (DCG) and USR group (USRG) were divided into three subgroups according to interventions applied; DCG-1 and USRG-1, patients listened to binaural beats; DCG-2 and USRG-2, patients listened to classical music; and DCG-3 and USRG-3, patients wore headphones, but were not exposed to audio (control group). The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were used for measuring anxiety and pain scores, respectively. Demographic data, initial STAI, tolerance rate of interventions, terminal STAI (STAI-T), differences of STAI (delta STAI, STAI-D), and VAS scores were compared. Between July 2019 and March 2020, a total of 252 and 159 eligible male patients for DCG and USRG were included, respectively. After exclusions, remaining patients were DCG-1,  = 61; DCG-2,  = 73; DCG-3,  = 75; USRG-1,  = 41; USRG-2,  = 50; and USRG-3,  = 52. The tolerance rate in binaural beat groups was significantly lower than in other groups ( < 0.05 for all). There were significant decreases in terms of STAI-T when DCG-1 and DCG-2 were compared with DCG-3 and USRG-1 and USRG-2 were compared with USRG-3 ( < 0.05 for all). There were significant decreases in STAI-D scores when DCG-1 and DCG-2 were compared with DCG-3 and when USRG-1 and USRG-2 were compared with USRG-3 ( < 0.001 for all). Binaural beat groups had significantly lower VAS scores than other groups and classical music groups had significantly lower VAS scores than control groups ( < 0.05 for all). Listening to pure binaural beats may be a simple and effective method to reduce anxiety levels and pain scores associated with the DC and USR procedures in males.