[Editorial] Classical Music and Animals, let's spread some "scientific" light on the subject

This is not the usual unreal social media fake news, but the study has some serious scientific foundations. The team of nine Chinese researchers, starting from previous works on the welfare of other animals (quality of milk in cows, social behavior of pigs, etc.) carried out a series of tests, dividing the animals, in this case subgroups of intensive farm chickens, and exposing them to some classical music listening sessions. The results showed that chickens exposed to musical stimulation developed a better growth rate and lower stress levels. Another experiment, carried out on laying hens, showed that each hen exposed to classical music produced one more egg per week (seven instead of six).

These two studies (and others) therefore seem to justify the practice, increasingly widespread in Italy too, of spreading classical music on farms. For example, a farm in Limana, in the province of Belluno, was analyzed by the Cà Foscari University of Venice, subjecting a population of 13,000 hens to Mozart's music from 8 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon (call it Mozart 8 2 5). Fifteen thousand hens seem to prefer baroque music instead, Vivaldi and Albinoni in fact pass through their speakers. Already in 2019 we told you about a dairy company that ripened cheese to the sound of music.

Unlike us humans, whose hearing deteriorates over time, chickens are able to regenerate damaged auditory cells, so they can boast an audiophile ear throughout their lives. Oh I know, we would love to have that ability too! With this ever-young hearing, therefore, hens seem to enjoy listening to classical music throughout their lives, and this without resorting to super-sophisticated HiFi systems.

In short, there would seem to be hope for us humans too: perhaps listening to music, whether classical or not, can make our lives less stressful. So, can you explain to me why audiophiles are always so stressed, anxious and nervous, especially on fora and FB groups? The explanation I gave myself is that many audiophiles don't listen to music, but to the sounds produced by the HiFi system, missing out on all the psycho-physical benefits that the seven notes are magically able to give us. Come on, if the chickens can do it, we can too!

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February 2024 editorial

Classical Music & Chickens (and Audiophiles)