Stereo Headsets

• In a study by Gary Oldham, a professor of business administration at the University of Illinois, employees at a retail office were given stereo handsets as they worked to see how music affected their productivity. The employees performed jobs in data entry, correspondence, account analysis and also routine clerical work. Results showed that the employees with stereo headsets increased productivity by 10.2 percent overall. For employees who worked lower skill jobs, their increase was higher than others who needed to focus more on work, but each position still showed an increase in productivity.
  
  

Background Music

• The same study also showed that background music increased productivity as well, though not as much as stereo headsets. Employees were allowed to listen to any type of music with the stereo headset. However, background music usually plays through a store's speakers. The songs are preselected for a general audience and do not meet the specific interests of the employees, thus slowing down productivity from use of a stereo headset.
  
  

Dangers

• There are dangers associated with the use of stereo headsets and music at work. Music causes distractions and makes it difficult to hear alarms, verbal warnings or instructions, which may slow production or cause ineffective work habits. Music also leads to dangerous consequences for customers, employees and employers who cannot hear a warning while working.
  
  

Mozart Effect

• "The Mozart Effect" is a studying technique often used by students to increase productivity. While they work, students play any of Mozart's sonatas. Don Campbell authored a book titled, "The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind and Unlock the Creative Spirit." It describes how listening to Mozart actually increases the IQ of an individual. Studies by neurobiologist Gordon Shaw in 1988 revealed stimulated brain activity when Mozart's music played to a test group. Later, in 1997, two groups of students performed work, one while listening to Mozart and the other without music. The group listening to Mozart did better with spatial-reasoning than the second group. Other studies also show that "The Mozart Effect" is real and does benefit work production, though have proved inconclusive regarding if it actually makes the listener smarter.