White noise enhances new-word learning in healthy adults

Culturally and linguistically diverse children's retention of spoken narratives encoded in quiet and in babble noise

Multi-talker noise impedes children's speech processing and may affect children listening to their second language more than children listening to their first language. Evidence suggests that multi-talker noise also may impede children's memory retention and learning. A total of 80 culturally and linguistically diverse children aged 7 to 9 years listened to narratives in two listening conditions: quiet and multi-talker noise (signal-to-noise ratio +6 dB). Repeated recall (immediate and delayed recall), was measured with a 1-week retention interval. Retention was calculated as the difference in recall accuracy per question between immediate and delayed recall. Working memory capacity was assessed, and the children's degree of school language (Swedish) exposure was quantified. Immediate narrative recall was lower for the narrative encoded in noise than in quiet. During delayed recall, narrative recall was similar for both listening conditions. Children with higher degrees of school language exposure and higher working memory capacity had better narrative recall overall, but these factors were not associated with an effect of listening condition or retention. Multi-talker babble noise does not impair culturally and linguistically diverse primary school children's retention of spoken narratives as measured by multiple-choice questions. Although a quiet listening condition allows for a superior encoding compared with a noisy listening condition, details are likely lost during memory consolidation and re-consolidation.

Auditory Noise Facilitates Lower Visual Reaction Times in Humans

Noise is commonly seen as a disturbance but can influence any system it interacts with. This influence may not always be desirable, but sometimes it can improve the system's performance. For example, stochastic resonance is a phenomenon where adding the right amount of noise to a weak signal makes it easier to detect. This is known as sub-threshold detection. This sub-threshold detection's natural fingerprint is the fact that the threshold values follow an inverse U-shaped curve as the noise intensity increases. The minimum threshold value is the point of maximum sensitivity and represents the optimal point that divides the dynamics in two. Below that point, we can find the beneficial noise branch, where the noise can facilitate better detection. Above that point, the common detrimental noise concept can be found: adding noise hinders signal detection. The nervous system controls the movements and bodily functions in the human body. By reducing the sensory thresholds, we can improve the balance of these functions. Additionally, researchers have wondered if noise could be applied to different senses or motor mechanisms to enhance our abilities. In this work, noise is used to improve human reaction times. We tested the hypothesis that visual reaction times decrease significantly when the subject's perception is in the beneficial noise branch and closer to the optimal point than outside of this condition. Auditory noise was introduced in 101 human subjects using an interface capable of searching for the right amount of noise to place the subject in the beneficial noise branch close to the optimal point. When comparing the results, the reaction times decreased when the subjects were at the optimal point compared to when the subjects were outside of such conditions. These results reveal the possibility of using this approach to enhance human performance in tasks requiring faster reaction times, such as sports.

Effects of Auditory and Visual White Noise on Oculomotor Inhibition in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Protocol for a Crossover Study

BACKGROUND

In attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), poor inhibitory control is one of the main characteristics, with oculomotor inhibition impairments being considered a potential biomarker of the disorder. While auditory white noise has demonstrated the ability to enhance working memory in this group, visual white noise is still unexplored and so are the effects of both types of white noise stimulation on oculomotor inhibition.

OBJECTIVE

This crossover study aims to explore the impact of auditory and visual white noise on oculomotor inhibition in children with ADHD and typically developing (TD) children. The study will investigate the impact of different noise levels (25% and 50% visual, 78 dB auditory), and performance will be evaluated both with and without noise stimulation. We hypothesize that exposure to white noise will improve performance in children with ADHD and impair the performance for TD children.

METHODS

Memory-guided saccades and prolonged fixations, known for their sensitivity in detecting oculomotor disinhibition in ADHD, will be used to assess performance. Children diagnosed with ADHD, withdrawing from medication for 24 hours, and TD children without psychiatric disorders were recruited for the study.

RESULTS

Data collection was initiated in October 2023 and ended in February 2024. A total of 97 participants were enrolled, and the first results are expected between September and November 2024.

CONCLUSIONS

This study will examine whether cross-modal sensory stimulation can enhance executive function, specifically eye movement control, in children with ADHD. In addition, the study will explore potential differences between auditory and visual noise effects in both groups. Our goal is to identify implications for understanding how noise can be used to improve cognitive performance.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06057441; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06057441.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

DERR1-10.2196/56388.

Side effects of monaural beat stimulation during sustained mental work on mind wandering and performance measures

Excessive mind wandering (MW) contributes to the development and maintenance of psychiatric disorders. Previous studies have suggested that auditory beat stimulation may represent a method enabling a reduction of MW. However, little is known about how different auditory stimulation conditions are subjectively perceived and whether this perception is in turn related to changes in subjective states, behavioral measures of attention and MW. In the present study, we therefore investigated MW under auditory beat stimulation and control conditions using experience sampling during a sustained attention to response task (SART). The subjective perception of the stimulation conditions, as well as changes in anxiety, stress and negative mood after versus before stimulation were assessed via visual-analog scales. Results showed that any auditory stimulation applied during the SART was perceived as more distracting, disturbing, uncomfortable and tiring than silence and was related to more pronounced increases of stress and negative mood. Importantly, the perception of the auditory conditions as disturbing was directly correlated with MW propensity. Additionally, distracting, disturbing and uncomfortable perceptions predicted negative mood. In turn, negative mood was inversely correlated with response accuracy for target stimuli, a behavioral indicator of MW. In summary, our data show that MW and attentional performance are affected by the adverse perception of auditory stimulation, and that this influence may be mediated by changes in mood.

Auditory white noise exposure results in intrinsic cortical excitability changes

Cortical excitability is commonly measured by applying magnetic stimulation in combination with measuring behavioral response. This measure has, however, some shortcomings including spatial limitation to the primary motor cortex and not accounting for intrinsic excitability fluctuations. Here, we use a measure for intrinsic excitability based on phase synchronization previously validated for epilepsy. We apply this measure in 30 healthy participants' magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings during the exposure of auditory white noise, a stimulus that has been suggested to modify cortical excitability. Using cortical parcellation of the MEG source data, we could find a specific pattern of increased and decreased excitability while participants are exposed to white noise vs. silence. Specifically, excitability during white noise exposure decreases in the frontal lobe and increases in the temporal lobe. This study thus adds to the understanding of cortical excitability changes due to specific environmental stimuli as well as the spatial extent of these effects.

Training augmentation using additive sensory noise in a lunar rover navigation task

Background

The uncertain environments of future space missions means that astronauts will need to acquire new skills rapidly; thus, a non-invasive method to enhance learning of complex tasks is desirable. Stochastic resonance (SR) is a phenomenon where adding noise improves the throughput of a weak signal. SR has been shown to improve perception and cognitive performance in certain individuals. However, the learning of operational tasks and behavioral health effects of repeated noise exposure aimed to elicit SR are unknown.

Objective

We evaluated the long-term impacts and acceptability of repeated auditory white noise (AWN) and/or noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) on operational learning and behavioral health.

Methods

Subjects (n = 24) participated in a time longitudinal experiment to access learning and behavioral health. Subjects were assigned to one of our four treatments: sham, AWN (55 dB SPL), nGVS (0.5 mA), and their combination to create a multi-modal SR (MMSR) condition. To assess the effects of additive noise on learning, these treatments were administered continuously during a lunar rover simulation in virtual reality. To assess behavioral health, subjects completed daily, subjective questionnaires related to their mood, sleep, stress, and their perceived acceptance of noise stimulation.

Results

We found that subjects learned the lunar rover task over time, as shown by significantly lower power required for the rover to complete traverses (p < 0.005) and increased object identification accuracy in the environment (p = 0.05), but this was not influenced by additive SR noise (p = 0.58). We found no influence of noise on mood or stress following stimulation (p > 0.09). We found marginally significant longitudinal effects of noise on behavioral health (p = 0.06) as measured by strain and sleep. We found slight differences in stimulation acceptability between treatment groups, and notably nGVS was found to be more distracting than sham (p = 0.006).

Conclusion

Our results suggest that repeatedly administering sensory noise does not improve long-term operational learning performance or affect behavioral health. We also find that repetitive noise administration is acceptable in this context. While additive noise does not improve performance in this paradigm, if it were used for other contexts, it appears acceptable without negative longitudinal effects.

The effect of sleep and semantic information on associative novel word learning

This study investigated the effect of overnight sleep on associative novel word learning and examined whether the effects of sleep on word learning are modulated by the provision of semantic information. Seventy-five healthy young adults attended an initial word-learning session followed by a delayed testing session. An interval of overnight sleep (sleep group) or daytime wakefulness (wake group) separated the two sessions. At the initial learning session, participants learned three-word names of 20 novel objects, where half the names comprised a novel word and two semantic attributes (semantic condition), and half comprised a novel word and two meaningless proper names (name condition). Novel word cued-recall was measured at both the initial and the delayed session. Although both groups demonstrated similar cued-recall accuracy at the first session, by the delayed session the sleep group demonstrated superior cued-recall accuracy compared to the wake group. There was no influence of semantics on the sleep-dependent consolidation of the novel words. Overall, these findings suggest that novel words encoded with or without the provision of semantic information can benefit from an overnight sleep period for consolidation.

Alpha and Low Gamma Embedded With White Noise Binaural Beats Modulating Working Memory among Malaysian Young Adult: A Preliminary fMRI Study

Introduction: Binaural beats (BB) provisions alpha and gamma have been suggested to modulate working memory (WM), while white noise (WN) acted as a control condition. Methods: The current study overlays WN on alpha and gamma tones to study its modulating role on WM performance. A block-design n-back task paradigm used to determine the effect of load on embedded BB on WM performance using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Six young adults (3 males and 3 females) with mean age of 23.5 ± 0.84 within the Kota Bharu vicinity participated in the study. A repeated-measures ANOVA (p<0.05) on response accuracy indicate medium effect size on condition (η2 =0.420), and large effect sizes on groups (η2 = 0.388) and load (η2 = 0.487). The potential practical difference is more evident on low- (0-back) and high-load (3-back). GWN provision marginally excels, implying its entrainment may benefit WM processing. A repeated-measures ANOVA (p<0.05) on reaction time (RT) implied a large effect size on all variables (condition: η2=0.065, groups: η2=0.227 and load: η2=0.169). It was observed that BB exposure elicits a slow processing speed which worsens RT. The neural correlates suggest activated regions in GWN and AWN are associated with attentional mechanisms and WM processes. Conclusion: Preliminary findings indicate both embedded BB has a potential to improve WM performance with the cost of slower processing speed. GWN provision modulates attentional mechanisms benefiting WM performance and AWN may enhance performance in extreme ends of WM load.

Cognitive performance, creativity and stress levels of neurotypical young adults under different white noise levels

Noise is often considered a distractor; however recent studies suggest that sub-attentive individuals or individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can benefit from white noise to enhance their cognitive performance. Research regarding the effect of white noise on neurotypical adults presents mixed results, thus the implications of white noise on the neurotypical population remain unclear. Thus, this study investigates the effect of 2 white noise conditions, white noise level at 45 dB and white noise level at 65 dB, on the cognitive performance, creativity, and stress levels of neurotypical young adults in a private office space. These conditions are compared to a baseline condition where participants are exposed to the office ambient noise. Our findings showed that the white noise level at 45 dB resulted in better cognitive performance in terms of sustained attention, accuracy, and speed of performance as well as enhanced creativity and lower stress levels. On the other hand, the 65 dB white noise condition led to improved working memory but higher stress levels, which leads to the conclusion that different tasks might require different noise levels for optimal performance. These results lay the foundation for the integration of white noise into office workspaces as a tool to enhance office workers’ performance.

Dissociable effects of music and white noise on conflict-induced behavioral adjustments

Auditory stimuli, encompassing a continually expanding collection of musical genres and sonic hues, present a safe and easily administrable therapeutic option for alleviating cognitive deficits associated with neuropsychological disorders, but their effects on executive control are yet to be completely understood. To better understand how the processing of certain acoustic properties can influence conflict processing, we had a large of cohort of undergraduate students complete the Stroop colour and word test in three different background conditions: classical music, white noise, and silence. Because of pandemic guidelines and the necessity to run the experiment remotely, participants also completed the Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST), so that the reliability and consistency of acquired data could be assessed. We found that white noise, but not classical music increased the response time difference between congruent (low conflict) and incongruent (high conflict) trials (conflict cost), hence impairing performance. Results from the WCST indicated that home-based data collection was reliable, replicating a performance bias reported in our previous laboratory-based experiments. Both the auditory stimuli were played at a similar intensity, thus their dissociable effects may have resulted from differing emotional responses within participants, where white noise, but not music elicited a negative response. Integrated with previous literature, our findings indicate that outside of changes in tempo and valence, classical music does not affect cognitive functions associated with conflict processing, whilst white noise impairs these functions in a manner similar to other stressors, and hence requires further research before its implementation into neuropsychiatric care.

Effects of the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Binaural Beat Brain Stimulation and Short-Term Training on Simultaneously Assessed Visuospatial and Verbal Working Memories, Signal Detection Measures, Response Times, and Intrasubject Response Time Variabilities: A Within-Subject Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

Introduction

Binaural beats (BBs) are phantom sound illusions perceived when two sounds of slightly different frequencies are separately transmitted to the ears. It is suggested that some BB frequencies might entrain the brain and enhance certain cognitive functions such as working memory or attention. Nevertheless, studies in this regard are very scarce, quite controversial, and merely covering a very small portion of this vast field of research (e.g., testing only a few BB frequencies), not to mention adopting some limited methodologies (e.g., no assessment of the loudness of the BB sound, adopting only between-subject analyses, and testing only one perceptual modality). Hence, we aimed to assess the potential effects of alpha, beta, and gamma BBs on cognitive-behavioral parameters of working memory and attention examined simultaneously in two different modalities (visuospatial and auditory-verbal).

Methods

This within-subject five-arm randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial included 155 trials in 31 healthy right-handed subjects (17 women, 14 men, 30.84 ± 6.16 years old). Each subject listened to 8-minute sessions of 10 Hz, 16 Hz, and 40 Hz binaural beats versus 240 Hz pure tone and silence (in random orders). In each 8-minute block, they played a dual 2-back task with feedback enabled. Their cognitive-behavioral parameters (working memory capacities, signal detection measures (hit rate, false alarm rate, sensitivity, and response bias), and reaction speed measures (response time and intrasubject response time variability)) were calculated. The effects of the sound interventions and short-term training on these working memory and attention measures were assessed statistically using mixed-model linear regressions, repeated-measures ANOVAs and ANCOVAs, Bonferroni post hoc tests, and one-sample t-tests (α = 0.05).

Results

The following are some major statistically significant findings (P ≤ 0.05): In the visuospatial modality, the 10 Hz BB reduced the response time and intrasubject response time variability and reduced the extent of decline over time in the case of visuospatial working memory, sensitivity, and hit rate. In the auditory-verbal modality, the 10 Hz intervention reduced the hit rate, false alarm rate, and sensitivity. The 10 Hz intervention also caused the lowest intermodality discrepancies in hit rates and false alarm rates, the highest response time discrepancies, and negative discrepancies in working memories and sensitivities (indicating the superiority of the visuospatial modality). The response biases tended to be liberal-to-neutral in the verbal modality and rather conservative in the visuospatial modality. Reactions were faster in the visuospatial modality than the auditory-verbal one, while the intrasubject variability of reaction times was smaller in the auditory-verbal modality. Short-term training can increase the hit rate, working memory, and sensitivity and can decrease the false alarm rate and response time. Aging and reduced sound intervention volume may slow down responses and increase the intrasubject variability of response time. Faster reactions might be correlated with greater hit rates, working memories, and sensitivities and also with lower false alarm rates.

Conclusions

The 8-minute alpha-band binaural beat entrainment may have a few, slight enhancing effects within the visuospatial modality, but not in both modalities combined. Short-term training can improve working memory and some cognitive parameters of attention. Some BB interventions can affect the intermodality discrepancies. There may be differences between the two modalities in terms of the response speeds and intrasubject response time variabilities. Aging can slow down the response, while increasing the volume of audio interventions may accelerate it.

Measuring and Modeling the Effect of Audio on Human Focus in Everyday Environments Using Brain-Computer Interface Technology

The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of audio listened to through headphones on subjectively reported human focus levels, and to identify through objective measures the properties that contribute most to increasing and decreasing focus in people within their regular, everyday environment. Participants (N = 62, 18–65 years) performed various tasks on a tablet computer while listening to either no audio (silence), popular audio playlists designed to increase focus (pre-recorded music arranged in a particular sequence of songs), or engineered soundscapes that were personalized to individual listeners (digital audio composed in real-time based on input parameters such as heart rate, time of day, location, etc.). Audio stimuli were delivered to participants through headphones while their brain signals were simultaneously recorded by a portable electroencephalography headband. Participants completed four 1-h long sessions at home during which different audio played continuously in the background. Using brain-computer interface technology for brain decoding and based on an individual’s self-report of their focus, we obtained individual focus levels over time and used this data to analyze the effects of various properties of the sounds contained in the audio content. We found that while participants were working, personalized soundscapes increased their focus significantly above silence (p = 0.008), while music playlists did not have a significant effect. For the young adult demographic (18–36 years), all audio tested was significantly better than silence at producing focus (p = 0.001–0.009). Personalized soundscapes increased focus the most relative to silence, but playlists of pre-recorded songs also increased focus significantly during specific time intervals. Ultimately we found it is possible to accurately predict human focus levels a priori based on physical properties of audio content. We then applied this finding to compare between music genres and revealed that classical music, engineered soundscapes, and natural sounds were the best genres for increasing focus, while pop and hip-hop were the worst. These insights can enable human and artificial intelligence composers to produce increases or decreases in listener focus with high temporal (millisecond) precision. Future research will include real-time adaptation of audio for other functional objectives beyond affecting focus, such as affecting listener enjoyment, drowsiness, stress and memory.

Resting state network connectivity is attenuated by fMRI acoustic noise

INTRODUCTION

During the past decades there has been an increasing interest in tracking brain network fluctuations in health and disease by means of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Rs-fMRI however does not provide the ideal environmental setting, as participants are continuously exposed to noise generated by MRI coils during acquisition of Echo Planar Imaging (EPI). We investigated the effect of EPI noise on resting state activity and connectivity using magnetoencephalography (MEG), by reproducing the acoustic characteristics of rs-fMRI environment during the recordings. As compared to fMRI, MEG has little sensitivity to brain activity generated in deep brain structures, but has the advantage to capture both the dynamic of cortical magnetic oscillations with high temporal resolution and the slow magnetic fluctuations highly correlated with BOLD signal.

METHODS

Thirty healthy subjects were enrolled in a counterbalanced design study including three conditions: a) silent resting state (Silence), b) resting state upon EPI noise (fMRI), and c) resting state upon white noise (White). White noise was employed to test the specificity of fMRI noise effect. The amplitude envelope correlation (AEC) in alpha band measured the connectivity of seven Resting State Networks (RSN) of interest (default mode network, dorsal attention network, language, left and right auditory and left and right sensory-motor). Vigilance dynamic was estimated from power spectral activity.

RESULTS

fMRI and White acoustic noise consistently reduced connectivity of cortical networks. The effects were widespread, but noise and network specificities were also present. For fMRI noise, decreased connectivity was found in the right auditory and sensory-motor networks. Progressive increase of slow theta-delta activity related to drowsiness was found in all conditions, but was significantly higher for fMRI . Theta-delta significantly and positively correlated with variations of cortical connectivity.

DISCUSSION

rs-fMRI connectivity is biased by unavoidable environmental factors during scanning, which warrant more careful control and improved experimental designs. MEG is free from acoustic noise and allows a sensitive estimation of resting state connectivity in cortical areas. Although underutilized, MEG could overcome issues related to noise during fMRI, in particular when investigation of motor and auditory networks is needed.

Effects of white noise in walking on walking time, state anxiety, and fear of falling among the elderly with mild dementia

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to analyze the effects of white noise in walking on the walking time, state anxiety, and fear of falling of the elderly with mild dementia.

METHODS

Subjects were 32 elderlies with mild dementia, and they divided into experimental group and control group, respectively. In the experimental group, walking program with white noise was applied 3 times a week for 4 weeks. White noise was provided by white noise generator in walking program. In the control group, walking program only was applied. To measure the effect of white noise in walking among the subjects, the walking time, state anxiety, and fear of falling were measured. Walking time was measured by Timed Up and Go test. State anxiety related in walking was measured by Korean version of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Fear of falling was used by Korean Falls Efficacy Scale.

RESULTS

The results of walking time showed the increase in both groups, but the statistically significant difference was not shown. However, the results of state anxiety and fear of falling showed decrease and the statistically significant difference was shown (p < .01). In comparative analysis, the statistically significant difference in the results of gate velocity between groups was not shown. However, in the results of state anxiety and fear of falling the statistically significant difference between groups was shown (p < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

White noise in walking should be induced positively to decrease the state anxiety and fear of falling in walking among elderly with mild dementia. Thus, in their environment, to decrease of state anxiety and fear of falling occurring in walking, the application of white noise in walking situation should be considered to apply for them.

The impact of musical pleasure and musical hedonia on verbal episodic memory

Music listening is one of the most pleasurable activities in our life. As a rewarding stimulus, pleasant music could induce long-term memory improvements for the items encoded in close temporal proximity. In the present study, we behaviourally investigated (1) whether musical pleasure and musical hedonia enhance verbal episodic memory, and (2) whether such enhancement takes place even when the pleasant stimulus is not present during the encoding. Participants (N = 100) were asked to encode words presented in different auditory contexts (highly and lowly pleasant classical music, and control white noise), played before and during (N = 49), or only before (N = 51) the encoding. The Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire was used to measure participants’ sensitivity to musical reward. 24 h later, participants’ verbal episodic memory was tested (old/new recognition and remember/know paradigm). Results revealed that participants with a high musical reward sensitivity present an increased recollection performance, especially for words encoded in a highly pleasant musical context. Furthermore, this effect persists even when the auditory stimulus is not concurrently present during the encoding of target items. Taken together, these findings suggest that musical pleasure might constitute a helpful encoding context able to drive memory improvements via reward mechanisms.

The impact of musical pleasure and musical hedonia on verbal episodic memory

Music listening is one of the most pleasurable activities in our life. As a rewarding stimulus, pleasant music could induce long-term memory improvements for the items encoded in close temporal proximity. In the present study, we behaviourally investigated (1) whether musical pleasure and musical hedonia enhance verbal episodic memory, and (2) whether such enhancement takes place even when the pleasant stimulus is not present during the encoding. Participants (N = 100) were asked to encode words presented in different auditory contexts (highly and lowly pleasant classical music, and control white noise), played before and during (N = 49), or only before (N = 51) the encoding. The Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire was used to measure participants' sensitivity to musical reward. 24 h later, participants' verbal episodic memory was tested (old/new recognition and remember/know paradigm). Results revealed that participants with a high musical reward sensitivity present an increased recollection performance, especially for words encoded in a highly pleasant musical context. Furthermore, this effect persists even when the auditory stimulus is not concurrently present during the encoding of target items. Taken together, these findings suggest that musical pleasure might constitute a helpful encoding context able to drive memory improvements via reward mechanisms.

Effects of white noise on word recall performance and brain activity in healthy adolescents with normal and low auditory working memory

The present study examined the impact of white noise on word recall performance and brain activity in 40 healthy adolescents, split in two groups (normal and low) depending on their auditory working memory capacity (AWMC). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants performed a backward recall task under four different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions: 15, 10, 5, and 0-dB SNR. Behaviorally, normal AWMC individuals scored significantly higher than low AWMC individuals across noise levels. Whole-brain analyses showed brain activation not to be statistically different between groups across noise levels. In the normal group, a significant positive relationship was found between performance and number of activated voxels in the right superior frontal gyrus. In the low group, significant positive correlations were found between performance and number of activated voxels in left superior frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left anterior cingulate cortex. These findings suggest that the strategic structure involved in the enhancement of AWM performance may differ in normal and low AWMC individuals.

White noise facilitates new-word learning from context

Listening to white noise may facilitate cognitive performance, including new word learning, for some individuals. This study investigated whether auditory white noise facilitates the learning of novel written words from context in healthy young adults. Sixty-nine participants were required to determine the meaning of novel words placed within sentence contexts during a silent reading task. Learning was performed either with or without white noise, and recognition of novel word meanings was tested immediately after learning and after a short delay. Immediate recognition accuracy for learned novel word meanings was higher in the noise group relative to the no noise group, however this effect was no longer evident at the delayed recognition test. These findings suggest that white noise has the capacity to facilitate meaning acquisition from context, however further research is needed to clarify its capacity to improve longer-term retention of meaning.

Low intensity white noise improves performance in auditory working memory task: An fMRI study

Research suggests that white noise may facilitate auditory working memory performance via stochastic resonance. Stochastic resonance is quantified by plotting cognitive performance as a function of noise intensity. The plot would appear as an inverted U-curve, that is, a moderate noise is beneficial for performance whereas too low and too much noise attenuates performance. However, knowledge about the optimal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) needed for stochastic resonance to occur in the brain, particularly in the neural network of auditory working memory, is limited and demand further investigation. In the present study, we extended previous works on the impact of white noise on auditory working memory performance by including multiple background noise levels to map out the inverted U-curve for the stochastic resonance. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), twenty healthy young adults performed a word-based backward recall span task under four signal-to-noise ratio conditions: 15, 10, 5, and 0-dB SNR. Group results show significant behavioral improvement and increased activation in frontal cortices, primary auditory cortices, and anterior cingulate cortex in all noise conditions, except at 0-dB SNR, which decreases activation and performance. When plotted as a function of signal-to-noise ratio, behavioral and fMRI data exhibited a noise-benefit inverted U-shaped curve. Additionally, a significant positive correlation was found between the activity of the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and performance in 5-dB SNR. The predicted phenomenon of SR on auditory working memory performance is confirmed. Findings from this study suggest that the optimal signal-to-noise ratio to enhance auditory working memory performance is within 10 to 5-dB SNR and that the right SFG may be a strategic structure involved in enhancement of auditory working memory performance.

White noise as a possible therapeutic option for children with ADHD

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects many children and adults throughout the world. ADHD symptoms have been associated with changes in catecholamine release. Current therapies for ADHD have a variety of limitations that invite additional therapeutic options. White noise therapy has previously been utilized to improve sleep and aspects of cognition in a variety of patient populations. Through a proposed phenomenon called stochastic resonance, white noise may have the ability to improve symptoms in children with ADHD. Empirically, white noise therapy has been able to improve certain tasks affected by ADHD symptoms, including speech recognition and reading and writing speed. Not all tasks affected by ADHD are improved, however, and significant logistical challenges remain before this therapy could be realistically implemented. In this review, there appears to be evidence that white noise therapy could be beneficial for patients with ADHD, and therefore further research is encouraged to establish parameters for maximum therapeutic benefit.

The impact of auditory white noise on semantic priming

It has been proposed that white noise can improve cognitive performance for some individuals, particularly those with lower attention, and that this effect may be mediated by dopaminergic circuitry. Given existing evidence that semantic priming is modulated by dopamine, this study investigated whether white noise can facilitate semantic priming. Seventy-eight adults completed an auditory semantic priming task with and without white noise, at either a short or long inter-stimulus interval (ISI). Measures of both direct and indirect semantic priming were examined. Analysis of the results revealed significant direct and indirect priming effects at each ISI in noise and silence, however noise significantly reduced the magnitude of indirect priming. Analyses of subgroups with higher versus lower attention revealed a reduction to indirect priming in noise relative to silence for participants with lower executive and orienting attention. These findings suggest that white noise focuses automatic spreading activation, which may be driven by modulation of dopaminergic circuitry.