Studying With Music

However, others find music distracting when they’re trying to study. What are the recommendations for retaining more information?

Most scientific studies suggest that the presence of music or background noise during a task harms performance. That said, researchers have shown that people who are used to studying with music perform better in the presence of music. As for people who rarely study with music, they do better in silence. Ultimately, this suggests that it’s a matter of personal preference.

The main factor that influences concentration is the level of interest in the music or background noise. A listener’s favourite song is more interesting, so it’s more likely to harm their concentration. The same goes for an interesting background noise, such as a conversation—it will distract the listener from the task more easily. The opposite is true as well; calm and soothing music or background noise, which tends to be less interesting, will affect concentration less.

Stimulating music or background noise is often unpredictable. It attracts some of the attention, which is therefore not used to fully understand and integrate the subject studied. For people who study in a café or on the bus, the surrounding conversations and constant movement may be distracting. In those situations, listening to calm music or uninterrupted sounds (waves, wind, white noise, etc.) can improve focus because annoying sounds are masked by other, less distracting sounds.

Music can distract different people to different degrees. It takes all kinds to make the world go round! Music that soothes one person may cause excitement and bring up strong emotions in another. Many factors come into play: complexity, style, familiarity, tempo, etc. The genre (rock, pop, classical, etc.) also has an indirect influence. In addition, the presence of lyrics tends to make listening more distracting and draw more attention. Finally, our relationship to the song plays a role, which is why it’s best not to listen to songs you really love or hate while studying.

Concentration is also influenced by the difficulty of the subject being studied. When the subject is simple, music can be more stimulating before it starts to affect concentration. Conversely, when the subject is more complex, stimulating music will harm your performance faster.

To learn more, don’t hesitate to talk to an audiologist.