Music while Studying

The idea of completing schoolwork while listening to music is simply second nature to me. Whether I’m getting ready to study for an exam or write a paper the first thing I do is throw on my headphones and find something to listen to. However, this has led me to ask the question as to whether or not this method of working is effective. As a student, I am always seeking the most efficient and effective way to complete my work and for me, music has helped me at times but hurt me at others. I have had experiences where I have put some music on and completed my work in a few hours. However, in contrast, there have also been times when I have struggled for hours to simply begin a paper. This raises the question of whether or not music improves academic performance. A question I decided was well worth looking into as the results will directly benefit any student who also enjoys to listen to music while completing schoolwork.

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A study  was conducted at the University of Wales which sought to determine how background music affects students ability to complete tests of recollection. This study can be very similar to a student studying for an exam with background music. In this study, students were given a recollection test in five different scenarios. The first was a quiet environment the second was a “steady rate” speech which meant a single word was playing the entire duration of the test. The third was “changing rate” speech where the numbers one through nine were repeated throughout. While the fourth was with music that the student liked and the fifth was with disliked music. In this particular study none of the students liked metal so that was played during the fifth test. The results of the study was that there was no significant difference in test scores with the liked music, disliked music, and changing state speech. However, the test scores were significantly higher when the students worked in a quiet environment as well as during the “steady rate” speech. This means that students will work most effectively in a quiet environment in contrast with working with music. This experiment also resulted in a rejection of the original null hypothesis which was that “changing rate” speech would yield the lowest test results. Although this study provides a strong reason to take out your headphones when it comes to academic work, another study was conducted that found another interested result.

This study conducted a similar experiment on students attention and focus with music as a background noise. However, these results were slightly different. Although the students with music playing in the background did result in lower test scores, their scores were all varied! This means that although music generally yields lower academic performance, it various from person to person. I believe that this means that more research must now be conducted in order to study factors such as genre or whether or not the student is accustomed to completing work with music. Another factor that was not accounted for in these two studies was the fact that the music had lyrics. Through my experience, I have found that working with music without lyrics has made me much more productive.

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A study conducted at the University of Dayton found that students performed much better with music playing that did not have lyrics. This study was conducted with 56 male and female students from the University by having them complete a standardized test while fast-tempo music without lyrics played in the background. The results of the study suggest that background music without vocals can have positive effects on cognitive performance.

So in conclusion, listening to music while completing academic work really varies based upon the person. There are a number of confounding variables that come into play when it comes to measured academic activity with background music. Variables such as tempo, genre, volume, length, and whether or not the person is accustomed to listening to music all play a role in determining how well the student performs. One factor, however, that remained consistent was that working in a quiet environment resulted in the best results. Therefore it can be said with confidence that the best way to complete school work is without any background noises. However, there are still much more studies that need to be conducted in order to fully understand whether or not music assists students while completing academic work.

4 thoughts on “Music while Studying

  1. Julia Hall

    I listen to music when I study and find it hard to study if I do not have some type of background noise. I defiantly agree it is easier to focus on your work when there are no lyrics involved. My psych professor actually talked to us about this and he said the best way to study is with not distractions what so ever for an hour. So this would mean no music. However, he said that if you have to listen to music the best type of music to listen to is music with no lyrics or music sung in a different language that you do not understand because you wont be able to process the words you hear.

  2. Kristen

    Personally I always listen to music whenever doing any type of work including studying. I agree that music without lyrics is the best to listen to while working since you don’t focus and become distracted on the lyrics. Ultimately I think it varies from person to person since I know some people who need pure silence to accomplish anything. I feel like the studies that were done could have other factors within them that don’t make them the most reliable, like when the exams were administered, and the exact music playing, so further research is necessary. This topic is relatable especially to students and important to know find out for students. This article discusses a cool theory called the “mozart effect” which is about how listening to music can help increase memory http://www.uloop.com/news/view.php/149570/Do-Or-Dont-Studying-While-Listening-To

  3. Brooke Lytle

    It is quite intriguing that the overall result was that people do better with absolutely no music playing. I personally always listen to music while doing work, and I am listening to music right now. When I do work in silence, I tend to get distracted by the small noises I hear elsewhere. I will hear random conversations, birds chirping outside, someone flushing the toilet, etc. With music it is a constant background noise. When I looked a little further into this, I found that in one study,subjects got more work done with music on
    . The author thought maybe because it made the worker’s moods better, therefore improving motivation. However, I do not believe they were studying in the study, but working on something. So maybe I should switch to less distracting music while studying, and stick to my pump-up music for workouts and simple tasks.

  4. Bailee Nicole Koncar

    Hi Alexander!
    I found your post to be super interesting. I know a lot of people who prefer to listen to music while working. I have a friend who listens to classical music because it doesn’t have words that could distract her. I think generally people may pay more attention to the songs and the lyrics that they are listening to rather than concentrating on their work. It is more effective to work in a quiet environment where there are no distractions so you can direct all of your attention to the assignment at hand. However, I do agree that there a lot of confounding variables. Ultimately, it comes down to the individual person and how he or she works best whether that is with music or not. Many more experiments need to be done to state anything with complete certainty.

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