Can you study with music on

Teenagers across Australia are holing themselves away for their final slog of study and revision. Heads down and headphones on. What's their study soundtrack?

Ambient whale sounds? There's a whole industry geared towards 'brain music'. Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and mozarteffect. Their relaxing strings, 'alpha waves' or binaural beats promise students increased focus, relaxation and brain power. Dare to question whether listening to music might Music is a major part of a teenager's life.

It's deeply connected to their language, emotions and developing identity. Neurologists have confirmed that the music we relate to in adolescence has a stronger grip on our emotions and memory than music we enjoy at any other period of our lives. And music has never been more accessible or portable. Today we stream music from our phones or watches to discreet earbuds or wireless, noise-cancelling headphones. Shopping malls, gyms, offices - libraries even - are full of people going about their day-to-day cocooned in their private audio worlds.

But when it comes to tasks requiring concentration, memory and processing skills, is listening to music beneficial? Or should we be reaching for the off switch? The case for music. Study can be isolating, boring and repetitive. Listening to music can improve a person's mood, provide 'company' and make the tedium more tolerable.

Our brains release the feel-good neurochemical dopamine when we listen to music, which makes us happier and more relaxed. Stressed-out students may find music calms them down and relieves their anxiety. And then there's the oft-quoted 'Mozart effect', i. This theory is based on research by Rauscher, Shaw and Ky in which participants listened to 10 minutes of Mozart sonatas or other relaxing music or silence.

Those who listened to Mozart performed better in a spatial reasoning test immediately afterwards. However, this was quite an abstract mental task, involving working out what objects would look like when rotated. The results were short-lived they lasted minutes after listening to the music and other studies have been unable to replicate the results.

Music is certainly stimulating and can keep a person mentally alert. There is much evidence that music training improves brain function and structure While music is a great motivator for routine and repetitive tasks, listening to music can never be a completely passive activity. If you prefer the outdoors to your office or study desk, soft nature sounds might provide a relaxing atmosphere that makes your work more pleasant.

If random sounds in the background interrupt your concentration, white noise , which muffles background noise, could help you maintain your focus. A study also suggests white noise could help improve learning and memory. Give it a try with a white noise machine or online generator, such as the free app A Soft Murmur. You might even have some white noise generators at home already: Just tune your radio to static or turn on a fan.

While binaural beat research is still in the early stages, limited research and anecdotal reports suggests binaural beats could help improve concentration and ability to stay on task, especially for people with ADHD. Binaural beats are an auditory illusion produced when you hear two different sounds at the same time, one in each ear. Your brain takes the difference between these two sound frequencies — say, Hertz Hz in the left ear, Hz in the right — and produces a third sound at the frequency of this difference, or 14 Hz.

This is the sound you hear. Choosing music carefully can help you maximize its benefits, but if you still struggle to focus, it may help to consider white noise or other audio options instead. Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health.

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Therefore, students who prefer studying in a quiet environment benefit more when it comes to recalling information later on a test. Different strokes for different folks: the type of music you listen to makes all the difference for those who prefer some background noise when studying.

According to a study done at the University of Phoenix, as well as various other studies, listening to music with lyrics is quite distracting while you read, study, and write. They found that your brain struggles to process the lyrics and focus on your schoolwork at the same time.

Basically, you are multi-tasking, which according to research , actually can decrease your IQ by ten points. However, the Mozart effect may not be a complete myth, after all. A study done in France, published in Learning and Individual Differences , found that students who listened to a lecture while classical music was played in the background performed better on a quiz when compared to those who went through the lecture without music.

The researchers gathered that the background music put students at ease, making them more receptive to information. These are the best genres of music to listen to while you study.

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