Exploring the impacts of background music on visual search in a simulated order-picking task: Performance, awareness, and subjective state

The benefits of music on the performance of easy and monotonous tasks have been widely investigated. However, how the potential advantages of music could be realized in an occupational context within a complex and noisy environment remains largely unexplored. A laboratory experiment with 30 participants was performed to assess how music (classical, jazz, pop, EDM, rock) of varying signal-to-noise ratios with warehouse sound (SNR +5, 0, −5, −10) impacts visual search in a simulated order-picking task. Results showed that relative to the warehouse sound alone, music led to neither negative nor positive effects on the participants’ performance, yet elicited increased arousal with vocal music, significantly improved valence and groove, but reduced awareness represented by the ability to detect truck beeps. Meanwhile, within genre, increasing music intensity caused diminished ability to detect truck beeps, but did not significantly influence search performance, affect and groove. To gain optimal tradeoff among comfort, productivity, quality and safety in the workplace, music of any genre could be used, preferably with upbeat tempo, vocals, and with a level difference between music and background (i.e, occupational) noise of maximally 5 dB (A). The study broadens the scientific understanding of music-at-work, and imparts practical guidance on how music may be implemented in easy and monotonous tasks under complex and noisy sound environments.