Listening to AC/DC makes surgeons faster and more accurate, research shows

LISTENING to rockers AC/DC makes surgeons faster and more accurate, research shows.

Playing their music through the speakers almost doubled surgeons' speed on certain tasks in the operating room – without affecting their accuracy.

In testing, those listening to Highway To Hell and TNT saw the time it took to make a precision cut drop from 236 seconds to 139 seconds.

And they did about five percent better on accuracy tests.

Doctors were almost 50 percent faster at stitching wounds when the Beatles hits Hey Jude and Let It Be were played in the background – but the positive effect was lost when those songs were played loudly.

Experts claim that popular rock songs improve performance by relieving stress, relaxing muscles, fighting anxiety and even lowering blood pressure.

Lead researcher Cui Yang from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, wrote in the journal Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery: “Our results show that both soft rocks and hard rocks can improve surgical performance.

“For hard rock music, the positive effect was especially noticeable when the music was played at high volume.

“It is possible that music with a high rhythm can provide a tempo to keep the speed of performance high and thus improve task performance.”

Music is played during approximately two-thirds of operations.

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