SynthesisPerspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science2018
Auditory Distraction During Reading: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis of a Continuing Controversy.
Synthesis in Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Effects of Noise on Cognitive Performance and Helplessness in Childhood: A Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Investigating the Effects of Paralinguistic Configuration in Background Human Speech on Attention: Protocol for a Within-Subject Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- I'm trying to read here! How does irrelevant speech affect how you read?Cognitive processing · 2026Article
- The mechanism of the irrelevant speech effect in reading: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis.Cognitive processing · 2026Review
- Language Comprehension in Background Noise - Effects of Noise Type and Task Modality.Journal of cognition · 2026Article
- The sonic energy of background music impacts cognitive performances: a behavioral and physiological investigation.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2025Article
- Using eye movements, electrodermal activities, and heart rates to predict different types of cognitive load during reading with background music.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Working memory capacity as a predictor of text idea recall in multitasking L2 digital reading.Psicologia, reflexao e critica : revista semestral do Departamento de Psicologia da UFRGS · 2025Article
- Article
- Attenuated processing of task-irrelevant speech and other auditory stimuli: fMRI evidence from arithmetic tasks.The European journal of neuroscience · 2024Article
- Hebbian Optocontrol of Cross-Modal Disruptive Reading in Increasing Acoustic Noise in an Adult with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Case Report.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Auditory imagery ability influences accuracy when singing with altered auditory feedback.Musicae scientiae : the journal of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music · 2024Article
- Breathing Life Into Meta-Analytic Methods.Journal of cognition · 2024Article
- Design guidelines for limiting and eliminating virtual reality-induced symptoms and effects at work: a comprehensive, factor-oriented review.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Review
- Article
- Influence of music on the hearing and mental health of adolescents and countermeasures.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Should We Turn off the Music? Music with Lyrics Interferes with Cognitive Tasks.Journal of cognition · 2023Article
- Familiarity of Background Music Modulates the Cortical Tracking of Target Speech at the "Cocktail Party".Brain sciences · 2022Article
- A simultaneous electroencephalography and eye-tracking dataset in elite athletes during alertness and concentration tasks.Scientific data · 2022Article
- Context Stability in Habit Building Increases Automaticity and Goal Attainment.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Everyday reading occurs in different settings, such as on the train to work, in a busy cafeteria, or at home while listening to music. In these situations, readers are exposed to external auditory stimulation from nearby noise, speech, or music that may distract them from their task and reduce their comprehension. Although many studies have investigated auditory-distraction effects during reading, the results have proved to be inconsistent and sometimes even contradictory. In addition, the broader theoretical implications of the findings have not always been explicitly considered. We report a Bayesian meta-analysis of 65 studies on auditory-distraction effects during reading and use metaregression models to test predictions derived from existing theories. The results showed that background noise, speech, and music all have a small but reliably detrimental effect on reading performance. The degree of disruption in reading comprehension did not generally differ between adults and children. Intelligible speech and lyrical music resulted in the biggest distraction. Although this last result is consistent with theories of semantic distraction, there was also reliable distraction by noise. It is argued that new theoretical models are needed that can account for distraction by both background speech and noise.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.