Does Music Really Help You Perform Better in Academics? | Abbos Jurayev | TEDxTermez PS Youth
Abbos Jurayev explores whether listening to music while studying improves academic performance, drawing on personal experience, a school survey, and a 2023 Malaysian university research study. The evidence consistently suggests that background music, particularly lo-fi and classical genres, can enhance motivation, memory, attention span, and the overall learning environment. He concludes that while not a universal solution, background music has the potential to make a meaningful difference for students.
Summary
The speaker opens with a personal anecdote from six or seven years ago, describing how he used a small music player to listen to favorite songs while doing household chores he found boring and repetitive. He noticed that the music made the tasks feel easier, less annoying, and — counterintuitively — helped him concentrate rather than distract him. This personal observation serves as the entry point into a broader discussion about a widely practiced student habit.
Jurayev then contextualizes the behavior within his own school community, citing a recent online survey he conducted among 53 students. Approximately 60% reported usually listening to music while studying or doing homework, and another 37% said they sometimes do — meaning over 90% of surveyed students had used this method in some form. This sets up the central question of his talk: does listening to music actually improve concentration and academic performance?
To answer this, he highlights a September 2023 research study conducted by three scholars — Tamin Farog, Norman Rashid, and Ken Neio — from Malta University in Malaysia. The study examined the effects of background music on the cognitive performance of 100 volunteer university students. Participants were split into a treatment group (who completed a test while listening to lo-fi or modern classical music) and a control group (who completed the same test in complete silence). Afterward, all participants filled out a questionnaire about their experience.
The results supported the researchers' hypothesis: students in the music group reported improvements in motivation, memory, and attention span, and felt the music created a better overall classroom environment. Jurayev summarizes that the study suggests background music can positively influence learning outcomes.
He concludes by synthesizing his personal story, the school survey, and the academic research into a consistent pattern: background music — especially lo-fi and classical genres — has the potential to make boring tasks feel easier, sustain motivation, improve memory and concentration, and enhance the learning environment. He acknowledges that it is not a magic solution and may not work equally for everyone, but argues the evidence points to it making a meaningful difference for many students.
Key Insights
- Jurayev recounts that as a child, listening to favorite songs while doing chores not only made the tasks feel easier but also helped him concentrate on them rather than distracting him toward more enjoyable activities.
- A school survey Jurayev conducted among 53 students found that over 90% had listened to music while studying in some capacity — about 60% doing so usually and 37% doing so sometimes.
- A September 2023 study by Farog, Rashid, and Neio from Malta University in Malaysia tested 100 students in two groups — one listening to lo-fi or modern classical music and one in silence — to examine music's effect on cognitive performance.
- Students in the music-listening group reported improvements in motivation, memory, and attention span, and said the music made the overall classroom environment feel better, supporting the researchers' hypothesis.
- Jurayev argues that while background music is not a universal academic fix and may not work identically for every person, the convergence of personal experience, survey data, and academic research suggests it can make a meaningful difference in focus and achievement.
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] Hello everyone. I want to share a small story about myself. When I was younger, about six or seven years ago, I had something like this, a small music player. Using this little device, I used it to listen to my uh favorite songs while doing house chores. These were simple tasks my parents assigned me. Uh but honestly, I didn't enjoy them at all. I had so many better things to do instead of doing those house chores like [0:30] playing outside with my friends or uh building something with my constructor toys which I loaded or watching cartoons or other things on TV. Uh chores on the other hand were boring, repetitive and they felt like they…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from TEDx Talks
The human who doesn't exist | Bill Ovenden | TEDxBrisbane
Bill Ovenden argues that behavior change fails not due to lack of motivation but because systems are poorly designed for real humans. By removing friction—small barriers that disproportionately impact behavior—through thoughtful design choices, people naturally follow through on good intentions without requiring additional willpower or discipline.
What's Really Hiding in Our Oceans | Claire Potter | TEDxUniversity of Sussex
Claire Potter, a designer and marine plastic researcher, explains the scale and complexity of ocean plastic pollution, discussing how plastic enters oceans through various sources, persists indefinitely, and bioaccumulates toxins throughout the food chain. She argues that solving this crisis requires a circular economy approach combining global legislation, system design, and long-lasting products rather than relying solely on recovery efforts.
We Thought We Were Creating Jobs: The Power of Inclusion at Work | Julie Agashiwala | TEDxRiverdale
Julie Agashiwala describes how Café Joyeux, a coffee shop chain founded in 2017, employs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in customer-facing roles. Beyond creating employment, the initiative transforms the lives of employees, their families, supervisors, and customers by shifting societal perceptions about disability and human potential.
Stillness: Permission to Stop | Idília Ramos | TEDxPraça Gil Eanes
Idília Ramos shares her personal journey from a childhood shaped by Portuguese dictatorship to burnout as a high achiever, arguing that modern society's worship of constant motion is harmful to mental health. She advocates for 'stillness' as a powerful form of freedom and describes her school's successful implementation of meditation and emotional learning to help children develop healthier relationships with rest and presence.
Trusting your inner wisdom | Dr. Karin Luise | TEDxJohns Creek
Dr. Karin Luise discusses how the body provides signals about alignment and misalignment before the mind makes decisions, and argues that people suffer from disconnection from themselves rather than lack of potential. She introduces a three-question practice called "the return" to help people reconnect with their inner compass and prioritize joy and alignment.