Why You Should Listen to Lo-Fi Music to Help You Focus in Doing Work
If you are anything like me, you want a soundtrack while doing daily activities like cooking, cleaning, working out, and especially studying. Depending on the occasion, I do listen to popular songs, but sometimes I start singing rather than doing the actual work. If you are looking for ways to increase your concentration, and therefore your productivity, ambient music can be an essential tool to achieve that. Research studies from as far back as 1972 have found that playing background music during the performance of repetitive work significantly increased productivity. Avoiding lyrics keep the brain from being distracted by the words, which is why most people choose classical music. I’ve listened through curated playlists on instrumental beats, peaceful piano, acoustical guitar, but there is nothing quite like lo-fi music.
Lo-Fi comes from the term “low fidelity.” It is an aesthetic of music that captures the imperfections during recording and production, often with the sound being “low quality” compared to contemporary standards.
The genre is defined by the inclusion of elements commonly viewed as undesirable in professional contexts, such as misplayed notes, environmental interference, background conversations, or phonographic imperfections like degraded audio signals and tape hiss. According to Kevin Woods, an expert in auditory neuroscience and director of Brain.fm, the production of lo-fi tracks involves recordings that helps people to draw on their memories of simpler times. Things like jazz chords and vinyl noise evoke an emotion rather than agitating a neuron. He explains that the audience is drawn into the genre for its ability to set a mood rather than its impact on motivation. While many music critics scoff at the mellow and monotonous music, enthusiasts (including me) and scientists insist that the blandness is the point. For many listeners, lo-fi lulls the brain into a sort of productivity trance.
Lo-fi beats feed your brain just enough stimulation to tune out stress and be productive. Maria A.G. Witek, a professor in the Department of Music at Birmingham University, says that the best kind of music to listen to while studying should have no vocals because lyrics tend to be distracting. The music should also be slow, repetitive, and soft. Ambient, atmospheric sounds like rain, a waterfall, or rainforest noises block out distracting noises in the work environment — like passing cars or low-level chatter among colleagues — and can help refocus attention and concentration. The idea of lo-fi is to bring wordless music sprinkled with nostalgic sounds like the “sizzle” of the vinyl record that is neither so slow that it makes you sleepy, nor so fast that it makes you anxious. It is not so boring that you forget it entirely, nor so interesting that it distracts you from your work.
The endless loop of lo-fi music helps to create a relaxing effect and provide comforts. Victor Szabo, a music professor who is writing a book about the genre, explained to Elemental that the repetition in the music makes it predictable, soothing listeners further. He explains that lo-fi also makes the listener feel secure because this type of music often features looping or sustained sounds or tones that allow the brain “easily to predict on a subconscious level how it will continue to sound.” Lo-fi hip hop and jazz typically also contain consistent secondary background noises like vinyl crackles or tape hiss. Szabo calls this effect “a texturally consistent sonic mulch, almost like white noise,” which stimulates nostalgic feelings and brings comfort to the listener.
It is the perfect distraction for your brain while you are focused on your deadline. So, what happens to your brain when you listen to it? As humans, the frontal lobe of the brain is the center of most brain functions. Listening to lo-fi music helps your brain to focus on this part. The brain picks out differences in sound and, in return, helps it get into a mindset of focus. If you are the person who can’t sit still while carrying out a task, lo-fi music gives your brain something to work alongside with. Szabo calls this the cocooning effect, where the listener can turn their attention away from the sound and toward other things without being surprised or thrown off.
Many studies confirm that this kind of music is helpful to students, and even adults in the workplace. One survey discovered that 86% of listeners had seen an increase in their productivity and their study habits. Even so, listening to music while working may not actually be as helpful as people want it to be.
“A lot of research seems to suggest that it’s best not to use any background music when studying,” Witek says. “The argument music will reduce the amount of available attentional space, taking attentional resources away from the task at hand.”
For the millions of people who turn to music to focus, we all have a different personality and taste in background music, but work-appropriate music tends to share a few general qualities. I go back and forth between Chillhop Music, ChilledCow, Le Steez, and Disruptive Records’s playlists on Spotify. As for lo-fi artists, Saib, Flovry, Peachy!, LOEF, and potsu are some of my favorites. Lo-fi music brings out new energy in me and enhances my focus when I work. I hope that it will do the same for you, too.
