Student Research Symposium Program Portal: Submission #64

Abstract Music is all around us, whether it is digitally made with computer systems or produced acoustically from an instrument. Music is well-known for its therapeutic effects, such as producing a sense of "mental clarity", but will these emotional effects differ based on the instruments used? (McCraty et al. 1998). This is the nature that inspired my investigation on how the use of acoustic versus digital instruments in recorded music affect teens' emotional response to music. Using a true experimental methodology, I created a survey with various audios, which was given to high school students. I also created an observational checklist for each participant, which addressed the physical presentation of the participant's emotions during each audio. After obtaining 23 participant answers, the highest likert scale number response for each audio was then compared to the other audio that was the same piece, just different instruments. The qualitative results were then compared to the participant responses to ensure that the results seemed to correspond. It was shown that majority of the participants were generally more impacted by the acoustic instrumental audios than the digital instrumental audios, which was concluded from a more agreed response on the emotion that was being implemented by the music and the higher overall intensity of the acoustic instruments.