So the father and daughter decided to do a study. And since Dr Suresh works with children, they decided to look at how music chosen by the children themselves might affect their tolerance for pain.
It was a small study, involving 60 patients between 9 and 14 years old. All the patients were undergoing big operations that required them to stay in the hospital for at least a couple of days. Right after surgery, patients received narcotics (麻醉药) to control pain. The next day they were divided into three groups. One group heard 30 minutes of music of their choice, one heard 30 minutes of stories of their choice and one listened to 30 minutes of silence via noise canceling headphones.
After a 30-minute session, the children who listened to music or books reduced their pain burden by 1 point on a 10-point scale. Sunitha Suresh says it's equal to taking an over-the-counter pain medication like Advil or Tylenol.
The findings suggest that doctors may be able to use less pain medication for their pediatric patients. And that's a good thing, says Santhanam Suresh, as children are smaller and are more likely to suffer side effects. So the less pain medication, he says, the better.
3. What does the underlined word "soothe" in Paragraph 1 mean?
A. reduce B. influence C. stop D. ignore
4. What inspired Sunitha Suresh to do the research on the effects of music?
A. Her father's study into music cognition.
B. Her grandmother's experience of recovery.
C. A book that claims anxiety can reduce pain.
D. Her desire to find a way to help patients relieve pain.
5. During the research, all the participants .
A. were under twelve years old
B. received narcotics to control pain after big operations
C. were required to stay in the hospital for a couple of months
D. were divided into 3 groups to listen to the same music
6. What did Suresh and her father find out from their research?
A. Listening to books didn't reduce the children's pain burden at all.
B. Music was even more effective than pain medication for the children.