The practical implication of comparing how adults with and without intellectual disability respond to music

Previous researchers who compared how people with, and without, an intellectual disability respond to music focused on musical aptitude, but not on arousal. This paper presents the background, methodology, and results of a study that selected fifteen different pieces of music, and compared the arousal response of adults with (n = 48), and without (n = 48), an intellectual disability. There was a very strong significant positive correlation (rho = 0.831, N = 15, P < 0.001, two-tailed), which the present authors believe implies that music, identified as sedative by individuals who do not have an intellectual disability, can be used appropriately in an intervention predicated for lowering the arousal levels of the intellectually disabled population.