Sigrun Eng: Interoceptive awareness in musicians

Field of study: Music Therapy / Music and Health

The project aims to investigate interoceptive awareness in musicians. Interoception means, in short, any activity of the brain to monitor the inner state of the body. Interoceptive hypo- or hyper-awareness can be linked to both physical and mental health issues (Khalsa et al., 2017).

The project will provide insights into the world of musicians and will examine interoception as a component mental and physical health in musicians. It aims to shed light on whether "musician issues" such as performance anxiety, chronic pain, and focal dystonia can be connected to the degree of interoception. Knowledge about interoception is also relevant for musicians and music therapists, since the body plays a central role in both the "reception system" for music and in the performance of music.

Eng plans a mixed design with a survey and semi-structured in-depth interviews. Theoretically, the project spans from a neurobiological and statistical knowledge base to a phenomenological investigation of the same phenomenon.

The project is related to CREMAH's research area, "music as a health-preventing and health-promoting resource.", and is primarily relevant to the field of musicians’ health, which, as part of NMH's strategy, can be considered one of NMH's core activities. Its intention is to generate knowledge that may be important for musicians to be aware of, both for preventing and treating musician issues.