Listening to Classical Music at Work Boosts Productivity

The next time you’re struggling to finish up a task at work, throwing on some Bach or Beethoven may worth a try. That’s the main conclusion of an experiment on British workers that found listening to classical music at work can improve productivity by 15%.

An initial survey of 2,000 UK employees revealed that half regularly listen to music on the job. Some of those employees’ bosses reportedly encourage the practice, but others are strictly against it, believing it hurts work performance. So, British classical music station Scala Radio and psychologist Dr. Becky Spelman set out to determine if background music hurts or hinders workplace efficiency.

Four office workers were asked to transcribe two 600-word sets of song lyrics. The first set was transcribed with no music playing, while the other was completed with classical music playing in the background.

The first task, completed in silence, was completed in an average time of 20 minutes and 59 seconds. However, the second transcription exercise that involved music was completed in an average time of 17 minutes and 42 seconds; a difference of three minutes and 17 seconds, or 15%.

“Music has a very powerful impact on the brain. It affects mood, mental performance and physical performance,” says Dr. Spelman in a media release. “Many people find that listening to certain types of instrumental music can help them with their productivity levels. The music can function as a sort of ‘white noise’, cancelling out potentially distracting ambient noise.”

Scala Radio’s initial research had found that many British workers put headphones on first thing when they sit down at their desks to help them concentrate or block out distractions. A third of those respondents said they work harder while listening to music, and 40% think they get more work done.

Many respondents said they listen to music simply to avoid silence (10%), and more than two-thirds of respondents who work from home said they would struggle to concentrate without music playing in the background.

In all, 47% of those polled on their work listening habits said they feel less stressed with background music playing, while over a third said their productivity improves.

“Provided the music has a calm, regular beat, it can actually help us to stay calm, reducing our stress, slowing our heartrate, and moderating our pulse,” says Dr. Spelman. “This makes it easier for us to focus on the task at hand rather than entering into ‘flight or fight’ mode, in which it can be very difficult to think clearly because of our elevated levels of adrenaline and cortisol.”

工作時(shí)聽古典音樂能提高效率

下次你在努力完成工作任務(wù)的時(shí)候，聽聽巴赫或貝多芬的音樂也許是個(gè)不錯(cuò)的嘗試。一項(xiàng)針對(duì)英國員工的實(shí)驗(yàn)得出結(jié)論，在工作時(shí)聽古典音樂可以讓效率提高15%。

一項(xiàng)對(duì)2000名英國員工的初步調(diào)查顯示，半數(shù)員工經(jīng)常在工作時(shí)聽音樂。據(jù)報(bào)道，一些老板鼓勵(lì)這種做法，但其他老板則對(duì)此嚴(yán)格反對(duì)，認(rèn)為這會(huì)損害工作表現(xiàn)。因此，英國古典音樂電臺(tái)Scala Radio和心理學(xué)家貝基·斯佩爾曼博士著手研究背景音樂是否會(huì)損害或妨礙工作效率。

四名辦公室職員被要求抄寫兩套600字的歌詞，第一套是在沒有音樂播放的情況下抄寫的，而另一套則是在播放古典音樂的背景下完成的。

第一項(xiàng)在靜默中完成的抄寫任務(wù)，平均完成時(shí)間為20分59秒。而在聽音樂時(shí)執(zhí)行的第二個(gè)任務(wù)平均完成時(shí)間為17分42秒，相差3分17秒，即15%。

斯佩爾曼博士在媒體發(fā)布會(huì)上表示：“音樂對(duì)大腦有著非常強(qiáng)大的影響，它會(huì)影響情緒、心理表現(xiàn)和身體表現(xiàn)。許多人發(fā)現(xiàn)，聽某些類型的器樂可以幫助他們提高工作效率，音樂可以起到某種白噪音的作用，抵消了環(huán)境噪音的潛在干擾。”

Scala Radio的初步研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，許多英國員工坐在辦公桌前時(shí)，第一件事就是戴上耳機(jī)，以幫助他們集中注意力或排除干擾。三分之一的受訪者表示，他們?cè)诼犚魳返臅r(shí)候工作更努力，40%的人認(rèn)為他們?cè)诼犚魳窌r(shí)完成了更多的工作。

也有10%的參與者表示，他們聽音樂僅僅是為了避免環(huán)境太安靜。超過三分之二在家工作的受訪者表示，不播放背景音樂，他們很難集中注意力。

總的來說，47%的受訪者表示他們?cè)诼牨尘耙魳返臅r(shí)候感覺壓力變小了，超過三分之一的人表示聽音樂時(shí)他們的工作效率提高了。

斯佩爾曼博士表示：“如果背景音樂的節(jié)拍比較平靜、有規(guī)律，它實(shí)際上可以幫助我們保持平靜，減輕我們的壓力，減緩我們的心跳，調(diào)節(jié)我們的脈搏。這使我們更容易專注于手頭的任務(wù)，而不是進(jìn)入‘逃跑或戰(zhàn)斗’模式，在這種模式下，由于腎上腺素和皮質(zhì)醇水平升高，我們會(huì)很難清晰地思考問題。”

環(huán)球網(wǎng)校友情提示：以上內(nèi)容是英語翻譯資格頻道為您整理的2020上半年翻譯資格考試二級(jí)筆譯提升習(xí)題九，點(diǎn)擊下面按鈕免費(fèi)下載更多精品備考資料。