The Sound of Music Can Be Distracting to Seniors

iStock/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) — Listening to music has multiple benefits, from calming people down to pumping them up during fitness training.

However, Georgia Institute of Technology researchers are skeptical about previous studies that suggest music can help people concentrate more while studying or trying to recall facts.

In fact, psychology graduate student Sarah Reaves contends that music can serve as more of a distraction and is especially detrimental when the elderly are trying to remember things like names.

She and her colleagues conducted memory tests with both college students and seniors involving faces and names in both a silent environment and one where background music or so-called “musical rain” was playing.

While the younger participants didn’t appear to have a problem either way, the seniors were definitely distracted by the sounds of music, remembering ten percent fewer names than when learning in silence.

Reaves’ advisor, assistant professor Audrey Duarte, remarked, “Older adults have trouble ignoring irrelevant noises and concentrating,” so it’s tougher for them sometimes to associate a name with a face when there’s music blaring.

This finding may have important implications for the way senior living centers are run where music plays an important role in activities. Reaves and Duarte contend when there’s learning involved, it’s a good idea to turn off the music.

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