[wenc]

Also, not all noise are alike.

My productivity increases with regular brown noise -- it "covers-up" the irregular traffic and train noises outside my apartment so my brain doesn't pay attention to it. Brown noise is also pleasant to the ears.

Music: it depends. Any kind of forgettable music like muzak or background instrumental/classical helps. But anything with lyrics distracts me because it engages the language processing part of my brain -- I need that part to do my work. But I know many people who can work while listening to rock and roll.

Also the article makes a difference between cognitive function and effort-task performance.

If I was a mechanic or someone doing a mechanical task, I wouldn't mind blasting heavy metal in the background -- it gives me a "metronome" to sync to. But I wouldn't do the same if I was a tax accountant where I need the cognitive headspace to do careful work.

If we create a quiet office environment, everybody gets to pick their preferred noise via headphones.

[zikzak]

I worked as a cook for years while I was younger. There was always a radio on (this is like 1980s-90s). Typical blue collar environment with tons of noise from machinery, raucous people, and the radio.

While doing prep work for the next meal time the music didn't bother me at all (so go through various fridges and the menu and make lists of tasks to prepare then execute on the list interrupted by deliveries, dishwashers quitting in the middle of their shift, and so on - peel carrots, chop onions, clean squid...).

While working the actual rushes on the line (preparing individuals meals to order as part of a team, timing courses to go out and maximizing throughput) the music was extremely annoying to me. My coworkers literally would go crazy without it so it stayed on but it was a major problem for me.

I eventually left cooking for comp sci (long story involving a health condition and a privileged life allowing me to do this) and discovered "psytrance". Finally, I understood how music could make you more productive. Since then I've gotten better at tuning out music with lyrics but it still bugs me when coding or writing.

[milesvp]

I wish I could turn to the same genre of music to increase my performance. Like you lyrics are out with exceptions (for some reason I can sort of tune out vocal trance), but some programming I find lend itself well to something like bossa nova, while others I need something highly repetitive like house, and I can't determine ahead of time which will be better. And what really throws me is that usually something like funk will slow me down, but there are times it's the only thing that works. This would all be fine, if I could just roll through the dial, but it takes at least 15 minutes before I know, and it's distracting messing with music until I find something suitable. usually I opt for no music if I'm somewhere quiet, even if there's a good chance music might make me more productive.

[AdrianEGraphene]

Between psytrance and something like Nhar [1], I find myself much more productive with the latter.

However, that may be because I've burned up my psytrance reserves over the past few years.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcX_3kLWXEk

[andrepd]

Classical music doesn't work for me. It's far too interesting and I'll catch myself pausing my work cause I got distracted by it! Same with jazz and the like.

It has to be some repetitive music/noise so it doesn't catch my attention.