Listening to music is an activity that I see being practised on a daily basis. The reasons behind it vary; whether it be to wind down, alter the mood, or even fill a void. 

I wished to discuss this with my fellow university students by relating it to something that we all have to deal with: studying. I myself have had a mixed relationship with listening to music during study sessions, with its effectiveness mainly revolving around the genre of music I choose, and sometimes my mood. I chose to look into this topic to get a sense of how others experience this. It was a chance for me, and potentially those who read this, to find commonalities within our cohort. More than anything, this was intended to be a discussion, rather than a mine for definitive answers.

I began this process by searching for outside opinions, all of which remained well under the university umbrella. As much of this project revolves around personal preference, I sought after an opinion piece. I found it in the form of a newspaper article written by Debbie Allen, a student from Northern Illinois University. In it, Allen casts a light on the vastly different effects that music can have on each individual person. Allen argues that she herself can only work in silence – “I’ve tried listening to music while studying and it’s way too distracting” (1, 2022). She justifies it here: “I’ll sing along to the song I chose to listen to or dance discreetly in my seat”. Despite this, she highlights that “not everyone feels the same way”, before bringing in testimony from others, who offer different views. Allen’s article not only gave me useful testimony, but also its nature greatly inspired my approach to the next major step in my project.

But before I moved on, I wished to find a more thorough collection of testimony. I found it in the form of another newspaper article, this time originating from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Here, the writer takes personality into account, as well as “the task being performed” (2, 2015). Shannon Layman, a psychology professor, is quoted stating that “extroverts tend to do much better when they have a more energetic environment including music”, whereas the test scores for introverts are “significantly worse when they have the presence of music”. For psychology student Lana Hindi, music “causes anxiety”, with only classical music having the ability to lessen her stress. 

Despite these two sources being secondary, their relevance remains in the fact that it is all testimony; a series of answers that add to my discussion. In addition to that, the points brought up in both sources serve as a precursor for the focus of my online survey.

My next step was to begin collecting direct testimony from UOW students – the centre of my project. I chose to do this in the form of a survey, as I felt this would invite a casual atmosphere and would lessen the risk of entering territory that would be considered too personal. Despite it being titled ‘How music affects the study process’, I crafted my survey in a way that would also apply to those who prefer to work in silence. I did this in order to produce answers with as much variety as possible. I also asked questions concerning the nature of their study space and preference of genre – drawing heavily from the answers found in the newspaper articles sourced previously.

The eleven responses I received featured answers that in many ways differed from the ones I had found elsewhere. At least six of them argued that listening to music helps them focus and drowns out distraction, as opposed to causing it, with one individual claiming that it “makes studying more likeable”. Many of these answers stand in stark contrast with Lana Hindi’s testimony (2). Bringing these differences to light was one of my main objectives going in, thus making this one of my most important findings. Despite this, many of them claimed that they still remain very selective when choosing what music to listen to, with one person usually finding themselves “avoiding music that features lyrics”. This feeling is reflected in the handful who chose ‘classical’ and ‘ambient’ as their genres of choice. Although Pop did take 60% of the vote, there was still a sizable percentage left over who preferred to listen to instrumental pieces while studying as opposed to songs with words. What this tells me is that many of us digest sound differently. If I were to try to search for a definitive answer on whether or not listening to music serves as a hindrance to study, it’s clear that I would have trouble finding it. When asked if they believe that music serves as an escape from what they’re working on, results were mixed. Some argued that it made their work “more bearable”, while others dismissed it as a distraction – once again reflecting how differently each of our brains work. 

In the end, the subject of my curiosity became a reflection of not only what differentiates us as people, but also what makes us similar. Regardless of how vague my goals were, and in spite of the limited responses I received, what I have here is an overview of how the BCM students of UOW operate, with my secondary sources broadening this out to other Western universities and allowing my findings to feel more well-rounded. 

Despite resulting in no definitive answer, I feel that I’m now more in-tune with the rest of my fellow BCM students than I was before. I hope that will be the case for others who read this as well.

Bibliography

(1) Allen, D. (2022) Unpopular opinion: Listening to music while studying is too distracting, The Northern Star, Northern Illinois University, viewed 6 May 2023
(2) University Wire. (2015) Students discuss effects of listening to music while studying, The Shorthorn, University of Texas, viewed 28 May 2023