Binaural beats reduce feeling of pain and discomfort during colonoscopy procedure in not-sedated patients: A randomized control trial

Abstract

Background and purpose: This study aimed to determine the effect of Binaural Beats(BB)on feeling of pain, and patient comfort during colonoscopy without sedation.

Materials and methods: It is a randomized, controlled, double-blind procedural study of 115 patients that underwent colonoscopy without sedation. The patients were randomly assigned into the experimental group (n = 42) and the control group (n = 48) that were given BB starting 5 min before and continuing until the end of the colonoscopy procedure without any intervention other than routine nursing care. Measures of the state of anxiety (VAS-Anxiety scale) administered before the procedure, and measures of feeling of pain (Visual Analogue scale VAS-pain), Satisfactory and Willingness to repeat the procedure as Likert scales were also collected soon after the colonoscopy procedure.

Results: Feeling of pain was lower and scores of the level of comfort were higher in the experimental group when compared to the control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: BB is an effective and safe method for reducing pain and improving patient comfort in cases undergoing colonoscopy without sedation. Since BB method is a non-pharmacological, non-invasive, inexpensive and simple method without any side effects, it may be used to reduce the feeling of pain and discomfort for non-sedated patients undergoing colonoscopy.

Keywords: Binaural beats; Colonoscopy; Pain reduction.