Surgeons working to AC/DC make faster, cleaner incisions, study finds

Surgery set to the gritty, mid-tempo melodies of AC/DC may be more efficient and safer, a new study has found.

Blasting songs like Highway to Hell and T.N.T. in the operating theatre caused surgeons to perform certain tasks up to 70 per cent more quickly— without sacrificing accuracy.

Trials showed the songs reduced the time it took surgeons to make precise cuts by almost 100 seconds, from 236 seconds to 139. Meanwhile, their accuracy improved by five per cent.

“It is possible that music with high rhythmicity could provide a tempo to keep up the speed of the performance and thus enhance task performance,” theorized Cui Yang from Heidelberg University, Germany. The study was published in the journal Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery.

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The study also found The Beatles’ Hey Jude and Let It Be caused surgeons to stitch up wounds 50 per cent faster. However, the positive effect fizzled when the band was played loudly, according to the Sun.

“Our results show that both soft rock and hard rock can enhance surgical performance,” Yang said.

“For hard rock music, the positive effect was especially noticeable when the music was played in high volume.”

Surveys have shown a majority of surgeons play music in the operating theatre and, according to Spotify and the healthcare app Figure 1, surgeons favour classic rock.

Their playlists consisted of ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns N’ Roses, ‘The Winds Cry Mary’ by Jimi Hendrix and ‘Back in Black’ by AC/DC, among others.