Since sound is a wave, it has all the properties pertaining to any wave, including frequency, amplitude, waveform, and duration, which, translated into musical terms, describe pitch, dynamics, tone, and duration. These four structural elements of sound each alter the listener’s experience and, by extension, the arousal, valence, and, in particular, emotions elicited by them. The significance of emotions and music within both modern society and ancient cultures suggests that any correlation or causation between the two must be inherently important, and the near universal ubiquity and experience of both music and emotion is further evidence of this. However, in order to determine if there was a relationship between the two factors, meta-analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data was conducted, revealing that the alteration of any single or combination of structural elements resulted in variation of the onset predictability, creating psychological engagement and reward. This positive correlation between sound and the degree of response on emotional, arousal, and valence levels within both the qualitative and quantitative data suggests that, depending on the pitch, dynamics, timbre, and tempo of the auditory stimuli, the affective state experienced by the listener varies. Additionally, the higher valency and arousal ratings expressed upon listening to expressive auditory stimuli, which involves the augmentation of tempo as well as an increase in pitch and dynamics and a decrease in duration, ultimately result in surprise, fear, or, most typically, happiness.