How to Boost Work Productivity with Nature Sounds

We’ve all heard the traditional advice on increasing productivity on the job: don’t multi-task, limit interruptions, say no to meetings, establish self-imposed deadlines, etc.

But what about the manipulation of environmental sound? Can improving work productivity really be as simple as playing targeted types of music or sounds?

It turns out that both nature sounds and music have been found to have positive effects on the job.

Let’s begin with nature sounds.

Nature Sounds

The Acoustical Society of America presented findings demonstrating that workers can get more done and feel more positive at work when nature sounds are playing in the background.

The study consisted of three sessions in the same room, where researchers had participants complete tests while listening to various soundscapes. Each session had a different type of sound playing in the background, as follows:

• First session: office sounds muffled by white noise
• Second session: office sounds muffled by nature sounds
• Third session: office sounds with no masking noise

The final results? The workers performed better on the tests when listening to nature sounds and also felt more positive about the environment and the task.

The nature sounds were also greatly preferred over the white noise even though white noise presented a similar masking effect.

Here’s a playlist of calming nature sounds for you to try out yourself.

Music

If nature sounds are not your thing, research from the University of Windsor establishes that listening to music can have comparable positive effects on work productivity.

They discovered that listening to music on the job improves mood and decreases stress and anxiety, which produces an emotional state conducive to elevated creative problem solving.

Participants that listened to music described better moods, produced higher quality work, and spent less time on each task.

Granted, the study was restricted to information technology specialists, but there’s good reason to think the effect is more widespread.

What type of music was found to have the greatest effect? It turns out that the category is less relevant than the positive emotional reaction it evokes in the listener.

Which means the difference between classical music and heavy metal is trivial provided that the music enhances your mood.

Did you know that several hearing aid models allow you to stream music straight to the hearing aids from your smartphone or music player?

If you have hearing loss, or are contemplating an upgrade, ask us about the latest technology you could use to start maximizing productivity at work.