The Effects of On-Hold Telephone Music on the Number of Premature Disconnections to a Statewide Protective Services Abuse Hot Line

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of music styles on number of lost calls (premature disconnections) to a busy state abuse hot line. This hot line received hundreds of calls a day and had difficulty keeping up with the volume of incoming calls. The objective of this study was to determine whether different styles of music would reduce the average number of lost calls. The music that callers listened to while on hold waiting for an available counselor was controlled for 10 weeks. The five musical styles used were classical, popular, music arranged for relaxation, country, and jazz. The music was changed every week for 5 weeks, allowing each musical style to play for 1 week. The entire procedure was repeated for an additional 5 weeks. A one-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences (F = 3.85, df = 4, 65, p <.05). The Newman-Keuls Multiple Comparison Procedure revealed significance between mean lost calls during relaxation and jazz music and between relaxation and country music. The results indicated that the average of lost calls was greatest when the relaxation music was on. The lowest number of lost calls occurred when the jazz music played, followed by country, then classical, popular, and finally, relaxation music.