These are the best music types to engage your brain

We know listening to music makes us feel great.

Nothing is better than being in the zone, or in the right frame of mind, or boosting us to just run, benchpress, or get our creative juices flowing faster.

And nothing is better than feeling it when we have to do something hard, like studying.

The best music to study with can help us do just that.

The science behind the best music to study with

In 2008, Johns Hopkins University researchers had jazz performers improvising inside an fMRI machine to see which areas of the brain light up. They found that jazz musicians make unique improvisations by turning off inhibition and turning up creativity. 

This is on top of existing research that has found listening to music reduces anxiety, blood pressure, and improves sleep quality, mood, and memory. Other studies also demonstrate music activates the most diverse networks of the human brain.  

“If you want to keep your brain engaged throughout the ageing process, listening to or playing music is a great tool,” says a Johns Hopkins otolaryngologist (that’s a medical specialist focused on the ears, nose, and throat). 

The vibrations that travel through the air get into the ear canal and are transmitted into an electrical signal. This then travels through the auditory nerve to the brain stem, where it reassembles into what we know as music. 

But before you pull up Spotify or Apple Music, note that not all sounds are created equal when it comes to stimulating us in all the right ways when studying. 

You probably shouldn’t pick your go-to karaoke song to listen to when studying because it might just turn into your own solo concert instead. Source: AFP

Know yourself, and know the best music to study with for you

Everyone has their own study style. From studying during select hours, specific spaces, or not without coffee, each individual should always try to find something that works best for them instead of just following along the trend.

For example, some people prefer listening to their favourite songs while studying, claiming that its easier to tune the song out, while others face the opposite problem.

“If I know the piece, then I’ll be tempted to hum/tap my fingers/sing along, but sometimes I’m able to tune it out and focus,” writes one Reddit user.  “I usually listen to pieces I don’t really like all that much so that I don’t feel tempted to get distracted. This is why I usually listen to pop music while studying because it’s more repetitive and I’m able to tune it out more. However, if I’m listening to something I’ve never heard before, I will focus more on the music because it’s new to me.”

Another Reddit user on the same thread has a different experience, saying: “For me, if I know the piece, then I will be distracted because I just want to jam to it. If I don’t know the piece, I’m more likely to tune it out so it works.”

They go on to say that their focus and productivity are also affected by what they’re studying for or what homework they’re doing. “I can do things like math with any kind of music, but reading an organic chemistry textbook requires music I’m not familiar with or silence. Also, the tempo and energy depend on the task. Upbeat genres like Baroque tend to keep me focused maybe more than impressionistic pieces.”

With that said, here are some of the best types of music to study with, based on research and data, as well as the personal experiences of people on the web:

Binaural beats

Binaural beats use your brain’s natural ability to fill in sensory gaps by placing two different frequencies in each ear (through headphones). This causes the brain to detect the difference between the two and create its own frequency. 

A 2017 research showed that binaural beats have an impact on the efficiency of allocating attention over time.

In late 2024, another research conducted by the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas found that participants exposed to 18-Hz beta binaural beats had significantly higher accuracy and faster response times during a comprehension task, particularly for complex sentences.

Lead investigator Dr. Yune Lee, Assistant Professor at the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and Director of the Speech, Language, and Music (SLAM) Laboratory, stated, “Minimal exposure to beta frequency binaural beat resulted in significantly higher accuracy and faster language response times compared to control sounds. Furthermore, these results have implications for the potential use of binaural beats in treating developmental language disorders.”

There’s something very calming about walking in a forest and listening to the sounds of the river, but since you have a test to study for, put it on your playlist instead. Source: AFP

Nature sounds

While people have always loved listening to the sound of rain or waves washing up on the shore, a 2023 study confirms that nature sounds, compared to urban sounds, relax our nervous system.

In 2020, the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) Library added a series of “soundscapes” to its collection for Science Literacy Week. The soundscapes consisted of recorded sounds that might be heard around UTSC, including birds chirping and the river running.

During that time, one student, Sapolnach Prompiengchai, conducted an informal experiment to see if they could improve their study habits with these soundscapes. They spent a week listening to each of the six soundscapes and estimating the impact each had on their mood and productivity.

The result? They discovered that were able to concentrate better using pink noise when studying subjects that require a lot of practice and tend to make them tired, like organic chemistry.

Pink noise, which is often what nature sounds are, differs from white noise (which is a constant hum) and even has a 2019 research paper supporting the theory that of all possible types of acoustic noises, pink noise leads to the most efficient stimulation of sleep and memory.

Classical music

The Mozart effect — a 1993 theory (which has been disproven) stating that listening to Mozart may temporarily boost scores — is a famous method of studying. Why? Listening to classical music or lively pieces in general (so not just Mozart) when you study arouses your brain to focus.

In 2020, another study was conducted in the US. This time, researchers found that students who listen to classical music during lectures, studying, or while they sleep perform better in exams by 18%.

This wouldn’t have been possible with other forms of music, like jazz, pop music, or ambient noise, says Professor Michael Scullin, director of the Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory at Baylor University, Texas, to The Daily Mail. 

“We ruled out jazz because it’s too sporadic and would probably cause people to wake. We ruled out popular music because lyrical music disrupts initial studying. You can’t read words and sing lyrics – just try it,” says Scullin.

“You’re going to have a heck of a time forming a strong association between some learning material and a bland song or ambient noise. That left us with classical music, which many students already listen to while studying. The songs can be very distinctive and therefore pair well with learning material.”

If you have a favourite track, look up the instrumental version of it and try using it when you study, Source: AFP

Instrumentals

Video game music, in particular, is designed to keep you absorbed and focused — which is also great for memorising.

This (reposted) three-hour-long Legend of Zelda compilation got 6.5 million views in two years. One commenter said: “I am neurodivergent and am attempting an online class after 20 years away from school and never learning how to study due to my undiagnosed learning disability. This music is perfect for getting me into the right headspace while also letting me relax enough to actually internalize what I’m doing. Hyrule is definitely my happy place.”

When your brain is focused on just melody, it’s taking a break from trying to break down the lyrics of a song and thus increases your performance. As one Redditor writes, “Study material which involves novel reading (and thus, an internal voice) should not be paired with music that has vocal frequencies (voice or instruments).”

Disclaimer: This article was last updated on August 9, 2024.