How does background noise affect our concentration?
—Philip Miele, Dublin, Ohio
Mark A. W. Andrews, director and professor of physiology at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa., offers a reply:
background or low-level noise in the home, work or school often disrupts people’s concentration. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, ambient noise also affects people’s health by increasing general stress levels and aggravating stress-related conditions such as high blood pressure, coronary disease, peptic ulcers and migraine headaches. Continued exposure does not lead to habituation; in fact, the effects worsen.
Several studies have indicated that stress resulting from ongoing white noise can induce the release of cortisol, a hormone that helps to restore homeostasis in the body after a bad experience. Excess cortisol impairs function in the prefrontal cortex—an emotional learning center that helps to regulate “executive” functions such as planning, reasoning and impulse control. Some recent evidence indicates that the prefrontal cortex also stores short-term memories. Changes to this region, therefore, may disrupt a person’s capacity to think clearly and to retain information.
Though not definitive, recent research also suggests that noise-induced stress may decrease dopamine availability in the prefrontal cortex, where the hormone controls the flow of information from other parts of the body. Stress resulting from background noise, then, may decrease higher brain function, impairing learning and memory.
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22 Comments
Add CommentCan you please tell me the names of the studies you reference? I have a noise machine at work (to help me concentrate) and at home (to help sleep). But this research seems to suggest that I might be doing more damage than good. I would like to read the studies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have the same request, please provide cites for the statements.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReaders need to look up the cited sources to be able to find later errata, updates, and new papers citing these. Otherwise all we have is one person's article about what was true the last time _he_ checked the references.
"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."
-- Lewis Carroll
For updates, we need citations.
There is always convesations by wife with someone else if she doesn't disrupt my concentration to talk with me, when i'm watching news on Tv. Could it be right to switch off the tv when there is a back ground noise to avoid the bad effects of interrupting concentration.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHmmm... not sure I would agree completely? What decibel levels were tested? At a certain volume, yes, background noise *is* a distraction. but with no ambient noise what so ever, complete silence is also a distraction!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFirst of all, there is a big difference between "white noise" and background noise. White noise is what you hear on the 'snow' channel on your TV and is a very annoying sound. A well designed masking noise system in an office should be unnoticeable (even if it actually raises the background noise level).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSecond, we hear background noise always and everywhere. Whether or not it is a distraction depends on a)how loud it is, and b)its characteristic such as tonal hum, modulating volume, impacts or beating etc.
I am an acoustical engineer and deal a lot with noise complaints in offices and residences, so I am very interested in this study, but there are a lot of unanswered questions.
A) what are the differences in stress levels between exposure to an uncharacteristic broadband background noise and a characteristic background noise such as white noise.
B) what was the type and level of the background noise used for the control group compared to the group that showed the increase in stress
C) In what setting did these studies take place (and did the studies take place in various settings to compare this). This is important because we percieve the relative loudness of background noise differently depending on where we are. For example, many people have no problem falling asleep in a car where the background noise level is 60-70dBA. Place a speaker in someones bedroom and play the same noise at the same level and not many people would fall asleep as easily or at all (assuming of course the same level of tiredness) where the expected background noise is more like 30-35dBA.
Yes. Kinds of noise? How often is "often disrupts"? In short, sources?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe kind of noise and, as Stevie Mac suggests, the expectation of noise are critical in all cases of distraction and stress. While studying complex subjects such as circuit analysis, I found that the ambient conversation in a cafe is far superior to either my silent apartment or a library that is expected to be silent, but generally isn't. While trying to fall asleep at night, however, I do become rather stressed if there is any acute or beating noise.
I'd like to know more of the science...sources please.
Strongly agree with Jamerz3294 and Stevie Mac's comments. It is crucial to define the noise characteristics and the setting, as well as a good baseline for the subject's initial stress level. Also the repeatability is important. There is a lot of empirical evidence on the soothing effects of many types of background sounds. No matter what, I believe that a more precise characterization is needed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisContinuing on the theme of proper characterization, I think that that the subject's background and expectations are important factors. Some people could be terrified of "silence" (i.e. < xdbA noise, choose x). Also, the controllablity of the background noise is important. I can easily imagine stress if I cant turn the noise off or change it in some way- which I almost always can in any non-work or non-flying-in-a plane setting.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am a 65-year old male professional continuing to work in law. Have had ADD most of my life, which actually is not a deficit as much as it is an over sensitivity to all of the stimulus around oneself. I find that having music on in my office helps to blank out the ambient speech, etc., and allows me to focus on my work, whether reading or writing!! I personally find this article to generally be bunk!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think I experience stress and, at least, great dis-comfort due to neighborhood dogs barking all the time. It does not seem to cause dis-comfort when the freight-trains pass my property. Weird huh? Why do I dis-criminate like this. I would really prefer not to stress out at the barking instead of the freight-trains. I've been told that it is me, a personal problem because no one else complains.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@MoldoZok, neighborhood dogs drive me nuts, too, whereas noises with lower angles of attack such as traffic, trains and planes do not bother me. Dogs' barks have evolved to be noticed and aggressive.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAgain, the attributes and the context of the noise matter.
I am also a 65 year old male, with some interesting disorder, and I function intellectually at my best in quiet surroundings, with some ambient friendly noise. I used to function well while listening to music, but this ability has declined. Now I listen to music when I wish to savour it in concentration, or in the background while dusting or baking a bread. I think one has to apply the usual analysis of what is stressful. There is good and bad stress. Personal factors should be taken into account. Noises that disturb one person need not disturb another, in their cortex or elsewhere. The generally relaxing nature of sea-sounds has long been noticed, however, though not those of a storm of course.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll add my own wish for sources too. A well-written magazine article is great for making everyone aware of new discoveries, but it just can't convey the nuanced conclusions that a real journal article comes to (or fails to come to).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHere are some literature review articles:
http://www.noiseandhealth.org/article.asp?issn=1463-1741;year=2004;volume=6;issue=22;spage=35;epage=47;aulast=Spreng
http://www.noiseandhealth.org/article.asp?issn=1463-1741;year=2003;volume=5;issue=18;spage=1;epage=11;aulast=Babisch
These studies may have a great impact on the sound masking techniques that are commonly applied to office and home environment.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTh
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA background noise can help drown out other less steady interuptions. Many students (including my children) do their homework with music playing and this even helps them to concentrate. This is the opposite situation to what has been described in this article and I wonder why the full situation has not been included. As a sufferer from ringing sound in the ears, I find that it does not distract me provided there are other sounds present at lower frequencies (particular the fan motor of my computer). A higher pitch sound (from our refrigerator) does disturb me whilst watching TV, so this claim is not at all clear.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy is it that a noisy noise anoys?
Totally agree with you, rab4456! I use classic and soft music as a background when I'm working or studying, and it is great! I can focus completely on what I am doing. This study is too general, or the article is too shallow and needs a lot more of information.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDepends on the type of noise. What the article talked about was white noise. Pink noise (or 1/f noise for the techies) is usually found to be relaxing. Music, ocean waves, rain and much ambient background noise falls into this (1/f) category. Which is why many people sleep better with some kind of background noise, even city noise!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with the others that this article could have been better written to make the distinction clear.
Reduced ability to hear a conversation over background noise is associated with Dyslexia. Could it be related to the impact of cortisol on the analytical brain sections?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with both as well. I think we are influenced more by what our parents listened to while we were still in the womb. These are probably the noises we are attracted to and will find more comforting, like the voices of our parents talking before we were born, or the low humming from mother while she is waiting for us to arrive.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Reduced ability to hear a conversation over background noise is associated with Dyslexia. Could it be related to the impact of cortisol on the analytical brain sections?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this_____________
I'd like to know the answer to this question. My brother has dyslexia. He was also born with a hole in each ear drum. Our father was a WWII vet and suffered from PTSD. His PTSD affected us all. Could these conditions have an affect on my brother's dyslexia?
is there a way to improve concentration?
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