While music’s ability to evoke emotions is well established, far less is known about how environmental factors, especially lighting, shape music perception. To explore this, researchers at Arizona State University and the California Lighting Technology Center conducted experiments in a controlled room equipped with adjustable LED lighting. Twenty-two participants experienced four lighting conditions (blue, red, cool white, and warm white) while listening to short clips of happy and sad music. They rated how positive the music felt, how well it matched the lighting, and how satisfied they were with the lighting environment.
Happy music was rated most positively under warm-white lighting and least positively under red lighting. Warm-white lighting also received the highest satisfaction scores, suggesting a natural alignment between warm lighting and upbeat music. For sad music, lighting had a smaller overall effect on positivity ratings—though red lighting consistently produced the lowest ratings. Importantly, participants felt that blue lighting best matched sad music, while cool-white lighting felt least compatible with happy music.
Lighting influences not only visual comfort but also emotional and perceptual aspects of music listening. These results highlight the potential for lighting design to enhance music-related environments by aligning light color with musical emotion—such as using warm tones for energetic, cheerful music and cooler tones for calm or somber pieces. Future studies could integrate biometric data and other environmental factors to create more holistic, emotionally responsive lighting systems for studios, therapeutic rooms, and home environments.