Music-listening During Deep Brain Stimulation to Relieve Anxiety

While conscious neurosurgical interventions are generally well-tolerated, they often cause
some measure of pain and anxiety. Patients have been reported to suffer from recurring
distressing recollections of, or dreams about, the surgery and other post-operative,
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder-like sequelae. High anxiety during surgery correlates with
post-operative psychological disturbances. Notably, listening to music reduces anxiety in
patients undergoing awake surgical procedures. Nonetheless, DBS is typically performed
without music because ambient noise typically interferes with interpretation of neuronal
recordings. Recording objective and subjective measures of stress during DBS provides a
unique opportunity to determine the effect of music on intra-operative patient anxiety levels
in patients listening to music compared to non-music listening control patients. The
investigators hypothesize that playing music will improve intra-operative anxiety as measured
by objective and subjective measures of stress, including blood pressure, heart rate,
cortisol levels and anxiety questionnaires. Additionally, previous data in the investigator's
lab has demonstrated that the subthalamic nucleus (STN) responds to melodic music by
decreasing the average frequency of neuronal firing. The investigator's pilot study also
suggests that STN and thalamic neurons respond differently to melodic music; the neurons in
the STN increase synchrony of firing, while neurons in the thalamus decrease synchrony of
firing over the course of the music clip. The investigators, therefore, aim to characterize
the neuronal firing pattern changes in patients undergoing awake DBS procedures in greater
detail, drawing from a larger sample size.

Inclusion Criteria:

- STN or VIM targeted DBS surgery, awake DBS surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

- No previous DBS surgeries, no history of deafness