Effects of music on cognitive performance: from the workplace to the laboratory to open-plan offices.

Smith, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8805-8028 2025. Effects of music on cognitive performance: from the workplace to the laboratory to open-plan offices. Presented at: Forum Acusticum Euronoise 2025. 11th Convention of the European Acoustics Association. Malaga., Malaga, Spain, 23-26 June 2025.

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Abstract

Music was often played in factories to try to relieve the boredom caused by monotonous jobs. Laboratory research has examined the effects of music on cognition, and usually, the results depend on the type of music and the task being carried out (e.g. the Mozart effect). In open-plan offices, noise is a common problem that can reduce employee performance. This noise may come from many different sources (e.g. telephones ringing, air conditioning, traffic noise, and the speech of others). Irrelevant speech is often the most annoying source of noise. Previous studies have indicated that continuous exposure to irrelevant speech impairs working memory. A recent study assessed the impact of music (“For Elise” by Beethoven) on the working memory performance of individuals in a simulated open-plan office exposed to irrelevant speech. Music improved the accuracy of simple and more complex working memory tasks compared to the irrelevant speech-only condition. In conclusion, music offers a straightforward and cost-effective strategy to mitigate the adverse effects of noise in open-plan offices

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 May 2025
Date of Acceptance:	28 April 2025
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2025 15:39
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/178056

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