Every day, students face distractions competing for their attention while they study.
One tactic typically used to drown out those distractions is music.
While some types of music are used to boost efficiency, other types do the opposite, causing work to be unorganized.
Nancy Barry, professor of music education in the department of curriculum and teaching, cited a study that proved music is effective in raising productivity in repetitive work such as checking emails or filling out a spreadsheet.
“Some types of music go well with certain types of work, just as that study shows,” Barry said. “There’s also music that can cause poor study habits that people aren’t even aware of because they’re so into their music.”
When it comes to tasks that require more brainpower, finding the right genre or playlist can be difficult.
According to Barry and a number of different professional studies, songs that include nature, instrumental music and songs a person does not care too deeply about are the types of music that provide the largest boost in efficiency.
Barry, who has numerous publications in journals such as “Psychology of Music”, said her research has led her to find songs that include nature ease the mind and allow for an improved attention span.
“Adding a natural element could improve moods and focus,” Barry said. “Each type of music is going to do something different to a student’s study habits, and natural music seems to bring the studier back if they’ve wondered off.”
One test Barry mentioned was a mountain stream test in which researchers made their subjects listen to a mountain stream.
Researchers found the stream did not distract the subjects.
While listening to songs that include nature boosts concentration and worker satisfaction, listening to music a person likes too much can be distracting and hamper productivity, according to research from Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan.
In this study, Barry said researchers found when workers strongly liked or disliked the music, they became more distracted by it.
“If you like the music you’re listening to, you might sing along and lose focus,” Barry said. “If you’re listening to music you absolutely despise, you are going to be miserable and lose focus.”
On the other hand, listening to music that a person has mixed feelings about draws out more productivity.
However, perhaps the music that draws out the most productivity is instrumental music, or those that lack lyrics.
Barry cited research from Cambridge Sound Management, which claimed noise in general isn’t to blame when it comes to a lack of productivity.
Rather, it’s how intelligible the words are that forces people to shift focus from their work to figuring out what someone is saying.
“If a student can’t understand the words in a song, they may spend the next few seconds or minutes trying to figure out what the singer just said,” Barry said. “And those few seconds of distraction take away from the student’s productivity.”
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