Can listening to music make you more productive at work?

Your personality has a key influence on whether background music can boost productivity or prove to be a distraction.

- Anna Fiveash

Listening to music can enhance our lives in all kinds of ways - many of us use it during exercise, to regulate our mood, or in the workplace.

But can listening to background music while you work really make you more productive? It's a controversial topic. Some people swear by it, others find it painfully distracting. The research agrees there's no one-size-fits-all answer to this question.

The best way to use music in the workplace depends on several factors, including your personality traits, what you're doing and what kind of music you're listening to. Here's how to find out what works best for you.

WHO YOU ARE

Your personality has a key influence on whether background music can boost productivity or be distracting in the workplace, which relates to your unique optimal level of arousal.

Arousal in this context relates to mental alertness, and the readiness of the brain to process new information. Background music can increase it.

Research suggests that being at an optimal level of arousal facilitates a state of "flow", enhancing performance and productivity. Introverts already have a high baseline level of internal arousal. Adding background music might push them over their optimal level, likely reducing productivity. Extroverts, however, have lower baseline levels of internal arousal, so need more external stimulation to perform at their optimal level.