Affect of Music on Comprehension Levels

630 Words2 Pages

How frequently does the average teenager listen to music while studying or finishing up some homework? The technique is so frequently used to ease the boredom that the majority of people do not even think about how it could affect their execution of the assignment before turning on their favorite tunes. Almost every survey done on the affect that music has on accuracy has shown there to be little to no correlation between the two. During a study done at the University of Wales, it was observed that “having [music] on while they worked was just as distracting as hearing someone talk.” (Doraiswamy, 8 October 2012) This observation would show that music most likely has a slight negative effect on a person’s ability to comprehend and recall information.
Music has been proven, with certainty, to have a strong effect on mood. The scientific cause behind this is that the rhythm and tone of different genres of music causing a person’s heartbeat to speed up or slow down. Depression and drowsiness are associated with a slow heartbeat, while excitement and happiness are associated with a faster heartbeat. Faster heartbeats can cause more productivity for short periods of time, so listening to upbeat music while doing a physical activity can prove to be very beneficial. It would make sense that this would be true for more educational ventures, too. Mood has a very defined role on the productivity of people, so controlling mood with music to perform better seems like a very sensible thing. The unfortunate factor in this is that according to a Binaural Beats survey, “the heartbeat will continue to increase until a person has become very stressed or drowsy, depending on the music type.” (Best Binaural Beats, 16 Feb. 2014)
The majority of stud...

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...e shown very little correlation between music and accuracy with math and literature. It seems as though a person’s favored music would be the music that would cause the greatest amount of distraction and therefore the worst scores on basic math and literature worksheets.

Works Cited

Manthei, Mike. “Effects of Popular and Classical Background Music on the Math Test Scores of Undergraduate Students.” School of Music- College of the Arts- University of South Florida. Steve Kelley, unknown. Web. 25 March2014.

Unknown. “How Music Affects Our Mood.” Best Binaural Beats. Unknown. 16 February 2014. Web. 22 April 2014.

Doraiswamy, Sheela. “Does Music Help You Study?” Mind the Science Gap. Risk Science Center. 8 October 2012. Web. 23 April 2014.

Unknown. “Survey says: workplace distractions affect productivity.” TechJournal. TechJournal. 2010. Web. April 23 2014.

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