Abstract
PURPOSE: This study investigates the impact of Mozart's music on the reliability of visual field testing among healthy Thai individuals, using a large sample population. METHODS: Automated perimetry was conducted on the right eyes of 163 perimetry-naive participants using a Humphrey Field Analyzer III (SITA standard 24-2 program). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: control (no auditory input), headphones (noise-canceling headphones without music), and Mozart (headphones with Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448). Each group received a 10 min pretest intervention according to their group assignment. Key perimetric indices, including fixation loss (FL), false positives (FP), false negatives (FN), test duration, mean deviation (MD), pattern standard deviation (PSD), and sensitivity depression in total and pattern deviation (TD and PD) plots, were collected and analyzed across groups using the Kruskal-Wallis test. RESULTS: The mean percentages of FL were 14.3% (95% CI 9.2%-19.4%) in the control group, 13.4% (95% CI 7.8%-19%) in the headphones group, and 6.4% (95% CI 4%-8.8%) in the Mozart group. An improvement in FL was observed between the control and Mozart groups (p = 0.03). However, no significant differences were found among the groups with respect to FP, FN, or test duration. Additionally, the values for MD, PSD, TD, and PD remained within normal ranges across all groups, with no significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: Mozart's music may facilitate enhanced concentration and spatial reasoning among individuals undergoing visual field testing with automated perimetry. Consequently, its application in clinical settings has the potential to improve the FL, a reliability index of visual field assessment.