You know music has the power to entertain -- and to fill a dance floor at your cousin's wedding.

But put this in your playlist: doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital are using Mozart and 50 Cent to help their patients heal; the marketers at Arnold Worldwide are perfecting the art of using sound to sell; and the owners of a new Boston area hotel considered audio architecture as important as the furniture and the furnishings.

Tonight, Mary Richardson reports on how music plays such an important role in shaping emotions and behavior, and we'll learn why some jingles are so insidious they've earned a new name: earworms.

Show Resources:

Cymatron Practitioners (MA)
Cymatron Practitioners

The Cymatron sound table is based on Cymatics—a field of study founded by Swiss scientist, Hans Jenny, in the 1960’s that examines wave phenomena-- specifically, the effects of sound on inert matter. Jenny put various powders, pastes, and liquids on a vibrating surface and exposed them to various pitches. Elaborate geometric patterns were often the result, suggesting to Jenny that sound could restructure matter and be an organizing force. Check out this video:
Cymatron Demo

Gottfried Schlaug, Ph. D., Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital (strokes, melodic intonation therapy)
Music & Neuroimaging Laboratory

This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, Dan Levitin
Your Brain On Music

The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature, Dan Levitin ( (August 2008, Dutton)
Six Songs

Feathers Wellness Studio (Cymatron)
South Weymouth
339-499-1057
Feathers Wellness Studio

Hotel Indigo
Newton, MA
Hotel Indigo

Bokx 109 (restaurant)
Newton, MA
617-454-3393
Bokx 109

Muzak
Muzak

Looney Tunes (used records, music nuts)
1106 Boylston St.
Boston
617-247-2238
Looney Tunes

Lyres (garage rock band)
Lyres (MySpace)