Tuning the Mind: Music’s Role in Improving Pilot Performance

Episode 12   In this episode, we explore the powerful role that hearing and music play in an aviator's performance and well-being. From protecting your hearing to sharpening your listening skills for critical ATC communications, you’ll discover practical tools and protocols you can start using today.

Learn how music—and even silence—can help you sharpen focus, steady the nervous system, and bring balance to both your flying career and home life. We’ll also explore how sound impacts your brain and body, and how intentional listening can help you manage racing thoughts, enhance workouts, and find calm in the chaos.

Blending scientific insights with relatable stories, this episode offers a fresh perspective on how tuning into your auditory environment can be a simple yet powerful way to elevate both your self-care and your flying skills.

Show Links:

Music for Relaxation: Deuter-wonderful German composer with many albums of sedative music

Here’s one of his songs-East of the Full Moon

Music for Relaxation: Plum Village Chant-Namo’valokiteshvaraya Chant-recorded recorded in the Still Water Meditation Hall, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France, in autumn 2020

Music for Relaxation: Because Gita is a clarinet nerd, and because Mozart completely dominates even all these years later…the ultimate sedative and gorgeous recording of the second movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major K 622 performed by Martin Fröst

Research:

The transformative power of music: Insights into neuroplasticity, health, and disease

Neurologic music therapy: The beneficial effects of music making on neurorehabilitation

Womb with a view: Sensory development in utero

Hearing persists at end of life

Scientists Identify Molecules in the Ear that Convert Sound into Brain Signals

Music, Maestro, Please: Thalamic multisensory integration in music perception, processing and production