White Noise Boosts The Attention Of Inattentive Students

October 3rd, 2010 - 7:43 pm ICT by GD  

By Meena Kar,
White NoiseOct 2, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Some researchers have scientifically proved that White Noise is an effective way to boost attention and memories of inattentive children. Behavioral and Brain Functions, a journal in Norway, published the story of this experiment, which took 51 students as its subject in order to establish the hypothesis. Scientifically, White Noise is a random sound signal, with a flat power spectral density. With any center frequency, within a fixed bandwidth, the sound signal contains equal power.

Gran Sderlund from Stockholm University in Sweden, was working on this topic with his team members and concluded that, white noise helps the inattentive students to pay more attention, while the more attentive students in class may get distracted due to its effects. This new invention has a huge significance, as it can be adopted in schools, as a non pharmaceutical strategy, to improve the pupils’ attention. This strategy can also be used to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, which are most of the time cured with harsh medicines or psychotherapy.

The scientific explanation behind how this strategy works is yet to be known. However, the researchers have explained that the noise arouses a particular kind of stimulation within the brain, that counteracts the state of boredom and sense of indifference within the mind of the students. The theory of Scholastic Resonance says that inattentive people need more external noise for a better cognitive functioning. It also explains that, tone stimulus or a weak signal, which is below the hearing threshold, becomes more perceptible when some other random noise is added to the signal. That is the reason, why the strategy gave a positive outcome on the inattentive children, while it distracted the attentive ones. Nevertheless, schools and colleges in Scandinavian countries are planning to apply this theory in their institutions.

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