Should You Add Background Music to Your Dental Website?
We're occasionally asked by our clients about adding background music to their dental websites. Years ago, this was a popular trend — it was fairly common practice for developers to add music to pediatric, orthodontic, and general dental websites as a way to add personality and atmosphere.
Times have changed. In those earlier days, multimedia elements were far less common than they are today. Now it's standard for a dental practice to feature patient education videos, welcome messages from the doctor, virtual office tours, and other audio-enabled content. Background music doesn't just feel dated — it actively conflicts with the rich video content most modern dental websites rely on to engage patients.
The User Experience Problem
Although mute controls can be added, there are no universal standards for where to place them. Even when they're logically positioned, visitors often struggle to find them quickly — and that frustration translates directly into bounce rate.
Consider this scenario: a patient has a dental emergency and needs to look up your contact information from work. They pull up your website, and music suddenly begins blaring from their computer speakers. That's not just embarrassing at their workplace — it looks unprofessional on your end. Their most likely reaction? Close the tab immediately and call a different practice. They probably won't come back later.
Mobile Users Expect Silence by Default
The shift to mobile has made background audio even more problematic. The majority of patient traffic to dental websites now comes from smartphones and tablets, and modern browsers on these devices intentionally block autoplay audio to protect users from exactly this kind of disruption. In most cases, your background music simply won't play at all — but the underlying audio file will still load, wasting bandwidth and slowing down your site.
Site speed matters. Slower pages hurt your dental SEO rankings and frustrate patients who expect information instantly. Every kilobyte of unused audio is working against you.
Your Patients Are Already Listening to Something
Many people listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks through their computers and phones while browsing the web. When your website forces its own audio track into the mix, you're not adding ambiance — you're creating a collision that almost always ends with your site being closed.
Accessibility and Copyright Concerns
Autoplay audio creates serious ADA accessibility issues for users who rely on screen readers, which become impossible to hear when competing audio is playing. This is more than a courtesy — it's a compliance concern.
Copyright is another factor that limits your options significantly. You can't legally put the latest top 40 hit on your website unless it's specifically licensed for commercial use, which is typically either impossible or prohibitively expensive. That leaves you with a narrow selection of royalty-free tracks, most of which sound exactly like the generic "waiting room" music patients are already tired of.
What Works Better Today
Instead of background music, modern dental websites build engagement through:
- Short welcome videos from the doctor or team — with user-controlled audio
- Patient education videos that explain procedures clearly
- Virtual office tours that help new patients feel comfortable before their first visit
- Patient testimonial videos that build trust through real voices
- Clean, fast-loading design optimized for every device
All of these give visitors something valuable when they choose to engage with it — not forced on them the moment they land on your homepage.
The Bottom Line
Background audio on dental websites is a trend that has passed. Unless you're starting a rock band instead of a dental practice, it's better to leave it off. We don't add background music to our clients' websites for all the reasons above. The hard truth is that someone is far more likely to leave your website because of unexpected music than to stay and enjoy it.
At Dentalfone, we help you engage with patients by focusing on thoughtful dental website design and optimizing your site for a full range of devices. If you'd like to talk through what's working on your current website — and what isn't — contact our team and we'll take a look.