The Effect of Binaural Beats on Preoperative Anxiety among Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients

Background: Every surgery is associated with different levels of risks and complications. Cardiac surgeries would definitely cause moderate to severe anxiety because cardiac surgeries are riskier than other invasive procedures. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of binaural beats on pre-operative anxiety among patients undergoing for CABG surgery. Methodology: This pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental study was conducted at Tabba Heart Institute. In this study, total 56 patients were included who were undergoing for CABG surgery. The patients were divided into two groups; interventional group and control group. Blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate were measured before intervention and 30 minutes after the intervention. For the data collection, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaire was used to measure the pre-operative anxiety level among CABG patients. Results: Both groups; binaural beats and counseling technique groups comprised 28 patients. Patients in binaural beats group and counseling technique showed significant reduction of anxiety scores after the intervention. Among two groups, a significant difference was seen in mean anxiety scores, with mean score of 52.9±5.5 in control and 48.2±6.7 in intervention group and it was statistically significant (p-value=0.006). A significant reduction in systolic blood pressure and heart rate recorded only in the binaural beats group, whereas, no significant difference of vital signs found in counseling technique group. Conclusion: Both, BB and counseling technique proved as factor to decrease anxiety level. Physiologic indicators of anxiety like systolic blood pressure and heart rate were also significantly lower in the binaural beats group over counseling technique.