Lo-fi, silence or lyrics? The best sound for focus

Quick answer

Half of YouTube's study crowd swears by lo-fi. The other half says it melts their brain. The research gives a clearer answer than you'd expect.

What 125x is: 125x is a web app at 125x.app. You connect your YouTube subscriptions, and it gives you a feed of the latest videos from the channels you follow, each with a summary: a verdict, the 5 key takeaways, and the spoiler, plus Actionable and Lessons tabs with more tips. You read that and decide what's actually worth opening.

What studies say

In one study, music with lyrics hurt verbal memory, visual memory and reading comprehension compared with silence, while lo-fi instrumental music didn't clearly help or hurt (a study on music while studying). Another found that preferred background music reduced mind-wandering on an easy, repetitive task (research on preferred background music).

Match the sound to the task

UC Berkeley's student wellbeing guide suggests silence for reading and notetaking, ambient noise for brainstorming, and relaxing or instrumental music for reviewing (UC Berkeley student wellbeing).

Dense reading or hard problems: silence or earplugs.
Flashcards, routine tasks, cleaning up notes: lo-fi or game soundtracks.
Lyrics: save them for breaks.

Tips from people who focus for hours

Brown noise or rain sounds when music is too much.
Film and video game soundtracks, made to sit in the background.
One piano track on repeat so nothing new grabs your attention.
Pick the playlist before you start, so YouTube's sidebar doesn't pick for you.

Keep YouTube from taking over

Put the music on, minimize the tab, and turn off autoplay. See turn off autoplay.

FAQ: questions people ask

Is it better to study in silence or with music?

For dense reading and memory work, silence tends to win. For routine tasks, instrumental music works well for many people.

Is lo-fi good for studying?

One study found lo-fi didn't clearly help or hurt. It's a better choice than music with lyrics.

Does music with lyrics hurt focus?

Research found lyrics hurt memory and reading comprehension compared with silence.

125x is a web app at 125x.app that turns your YouTube subscriptions into a feed with a summary on every video, plus Actionable and Lessons tabs with more tips, so you can see what's worth opening before you spend the time.

125x is made by Blake Labs Inc. 125x is not made by YouTube or Google.