Music to our ears: the effect of background music in higher education learning environments

Abstract

Learning and teaching practice is higher education has embraced various forms of technology over recent years directed at enhancing the learning experience. Background music is well-known to benefit learning in elementary schools, but has been largely ignored in higher education. There is evidence that background music is particularly beneficial for students with previous musical training which is important for educators on audio engineering or similar courses linked closely with music. This work aims to determine if there are merits to background music in higher education and to point towards future work required to give definitive proof.