Music is Everywhere: Exploring Environmental Music Therapy

In 2024, singer Claire Boyer posted a TikTok video of herself standing next to her kitchen fan, matching its pitch, and singing in harmony with its whirring. As her improvised song continued, the fan blended in with her voice, and by the end of the video, it sounded more like a droning musical instrument than a household appliance (Boyer, 2024). The act of combining music with environmental sounds is also used in a music therapy technique called environmental music therapy (EMT). In EMT, music therapists use live music to offset unpleasant or disruptive sounds by singing or playing in harmony with them.

EMT lends itself well in hospital intensive care units, where harsh medical alarms go off constantly, creating an overwhelming soundscape. These well-meaning and purposeful alarms can quickly become overstimulating to hospital patients, especially when combined with pain, discomfort, and medical anxiety. To make matters worse, there is no way to turn these sounds off, which can make patients feel a lack of control over what they are listening to. EMT can restore some of this autonomy, normalize the environment, and reduce stress. By tuning in to the existing rhythms and pitches around them, music therapists have the power to add harmony and musical context to create a soundscape like no other, tailoring the music for patients’ individual needs. 

One setting where EMT is especially beneficial is the NICU. In the NICU, premature babies need about 17 hours of sleep each day to protect their rapidly growing brains (Flynn-Evans, 2025), and being repeatedly woken by beeping equipment can be harmful to neonatal brain development. Premature infants are still developing the neural pathways needed to process complex sensory stimulation, leading to difficulty tolerating repeated harsh sounds. Music therapists can help protect these infants’ sleep, regulation, and sensory development by singing soothing, descending melodies in harmony with environmental sounds, while providing comforting touch and containment for an added layer of sensory support. This technique is only recommended for infants 28 weeks gestational age and above (Baird & Love, 2021). Once this milestone is reached, music therapy can prevent overstimulation, dysregulation, and stress, helping NICU patients get the crucial rest they need to develop and grow.  

EMT has also been proven beneficial in outpatient cancer care. One 2023 study published in the journal Music and Medicine found that patients awaiting radiation therapy demonstrated significantly less anxiety and perceived their wait time as shorter when compared to a control group (Rosetti et al, 2023). In addition, at Houston Methodist Hospital, music therapists provide EMT for patients waiting in the outpatient infusion center, softening an overwhelming and noisy environment using intentionally-chosen songs with messages of positivity and strength (Center for Performing Arts Medicine, 2021). As an added bonus, EMT provided in these spaces can also benefit staff members and visitors at these hospitals, helping ease tension for everyone present in a high-stress environment. 

For patients young and old, EMT has the potential to soothe anxiety, bring about comfort and rest, and reframe distressing sounds to be more tolerable. Next time you find yourself in a noisy environment, try tuning in to your surroundings, and see if you can find any rhythmic or harmonic patterns similar to music. If you feel inspired, like Claire Boyer did while listening to her kitchen fan, try humming along and see how it transforms your perception of the sounds around you. Environmental music therapy invites us to rethink the sounds around us, and arguably proves that if you listen closely, you’ll find music everywhere. 

Works Cited:

Baird, L., & Love, A. (2021). Music Therapy and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). American Music Therapy Association. Retrieved April 17, 2026, from https://www.musictherapy.org/assets/1/7/FactSheet_Music_Therapy_and_the_Neonatal_Intensive_Care_Unit__2021.pdf

Boyer, C. [claireboyermusic]. (2024, November 26). Original video: Humming along to my kitchen fan [Video]. TikTok. Retrieved April 17, 2026, from https://www.tiktok.com/@claireboyermusic/video/7441697499405880619

Center for Performing Arts Medicine. (2021, November 8). Environmental Music therapy [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS7W_-Sz77o

Flynn-Evans, E. F. P., PhD, MPH. (2025, April 27). Preemie sleep norms and recommendations. Baby Sleep Science: Sleep Resource Center. https://www.babysleepscience.com/single-post/adjusting-expectations-navigating-sleep-with-a-premature-baby

Rossetti, A., Loewy, J., Fischer, Z., Deshpande, S., & Chadha, M. (2023). Effects of environmental music therapy on anxiety and waiting in radiation oncology. Music and Medicine, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.47513/mmd.v15i1.911