Feeling calm and being calm aren't quite the same

Lots of people put on pink or brown noise to relax, sleep or focus. I've done it too. So a new study from Toronto Metropolitan University in Canada caught my ear, because it asks a simple question: does your body respond the same way you think it does?

Psychology professor Frank A. Russo and his team worked with 83 university students who had reported at least one recent symptom of anxiety. Each person listened for 24 minutes to one of two things. Half heard personalised music that started close to their mood and slowly guided it somewhere calmer, paired with rhythmic beat stimulation. The other half heard pink noise, a steady hiss often used for relaxation, played at the same volume.

Before and after, the researchers checked how people felt, but also measured cortisol (a stress hormone), heart rate variability and brain activity.

Here's the interesting part. Both groups said they felt less anxious and in a better mood, by about the same amount. Their heart rate variability changed similarly too. But cortisol fell more than twice as much in the music group, and brain activity linked to emotional regulation went up slightly after the music while it went down after the pink noise.

The researchers are careful about this. They say the body results are preliminary, because they shifted depending on how unusual data points were handled, and that more work is needed to tell how much came from the music and how much from the beat stimulation. The study was also part-funded by LUCID, a music-tech company that grew out of the university.

Still, I find it a lovely reminder. As someone who spends my days shaping sound for rooms full of people, I know how much of what sound does happens below what we can put into words. We might feel the same, while our bodies quietly tell a different story. I'm glad people are still asking about it.

Source: Toronto Metropolitan University, "Music lowers cortisol more than pink noise, new TMU study finds" (29 Oct 2026), https://www.torontomu.ca/media/releases/2026/10/music-lowers-cortisol-more-than-pink-noise-new-tmu-study-finds/. Paper published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology (18 Oct 2026).

Takeaway: Music and pink noise may both feel calming, but early signs suggest your body responds more to music.