Humming to upbeat songs like Nellie the Elephant while compressing the chest of a heart attack victim could improve a life-saving heart resuscitation technique, scientists said yesterday.
A study into cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training found that listening to music with the right tempo helped people keep to a rate of 100 chest compressions per minute - the rate recommended in expert guidelines.
CPR is a potentially life-saving technique that can be taught to people with no other medical skills. It can double heart attack survival rates if it is carried out on a patient one to two minutes before emergency services arrive.
Researchers from the Universities of Birmingham, Coventry and Hertfordshire in Britain gave 130 untrained volunteers a brief demonstration on a resuscitation mannequin.
The participants had one minute to practice while listening to a metronome and were then asked to perform three sequences of one minute of continuous chest compressions while listening on headphones to the songs Nellie the Elephant, by Little Bear, and That's the Way (I Like It), by KC and the Sunshine Band.
The songs were chosen for their tempo, the researchers wrote in the study in the British Medical Journal. Nellie the Elephant has 105 beats per minute and That's the Way has 106.
Questions:
1. What does CPR stand for?
2. How many volunteers were given the demonstration?
3. How many beats per minutes does Nellie the Elephant have?
Answers:
1. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
2. 130.
3. 105.
(中国日报网英语点津 Helen 编辑)
About the broadcaster:
Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.