The Comparative Effects of Silence, Birdsong, Music, and a Medical Soundscape on Cognitive Performance and Perceived Workload

Abstract

Medical soundscapes (e.g., rattling trolleys, alarms) may degrade cognitive performance in a hospital setting. “Positive” soundscapes (e.g., birdsong and music) have been suggested and used as positive sound interventions to mask unpleasant medical soundscapes and boost cognitive performance, both inside and outside of a hospital setting. Here, I assess the impact of medical, birdsong, and music soundscapes on the recall of numerals projected on a monitor for 210 ms before being masked. Recall of such briefly presented items may tap into “immediate” or “iconic” memory (Sperling, 1960). Participants completed the memory task while being exposed to one of three pre-recorded soundscapes: birdsong, a Mozart sonata, or a medical soundscape. A 2x3 design was used, where sound condition (sound versus silence) was the within-participant manipulation and the between-group variable was the soundscape type. Following task completion, participants completed a questionnaire asking about their perceived workload of the task in silence versus sound, and their pleasantness rating of their respective soundscape. The questionnaire also included items that addressed individual sensory-processing sensitivity, prior experience listening to soundscapes while working, and prior experience in a hospital setting. A repeated measures analysis of variance showed no statistically significant difference in accuracy scores between all three groups of soundscapes and no interaction effect between the score difference in silence versus sound and soundscape type. Despite the medical soundscape’s rating as the most unpleasant soundscape, its perceived workload scores were the lowest. This finding may be attributable to the type of task or auditory stimuli used.