Should you listen to music while working?

Whether in the library or at the office, it’s not uncommon to see people working with headphones on. Listening to music is said to boost concentration and productivity.

While the scientific community is divided as to the real benefits of this practice, music lovers are far more convinced.

Nearly a quarter of working people and students in the UK say music helps them get into “work mode”, according to a new Canon/OnePoll survey.

Many believe they are more motivated to work harder while listening to music, which helps them perform better (40%).

Generally speaking, people believe that music provides many benefits.

Some 17% of those polled are convinced that listening to music helps them be more creative, while 40% say it helps them pass the time. Plus, 35% say that music makes revision or work sessions more fun.

So it’s hardly surprising that some people can’t work or study any other way.

More than 15% of UK adults say they would find it difficult to carry out certain work or study tasks at home without music playing in the background.

But does music really make people work better? Nothing is less certain.

Many rely on what is commonly known as the “Mozart effect”, which was theorised in the 1990s following the publication of a study in the scientific journal Nature that claimed that the compositions of the Austrian classical music genius were conducive to learning.

Decades later, researchers at the University of Vienna’s faculty of psychology came to the conclusion there is no scientific proof of the Mozart effect after studying about 3 000 cases compiled in some 40 research studies.

So working to music is more a question of personality, than productivity. –