To Play Or Not To Play: Investigating the Effects of Auditory Stimuli During Running
Faculty Mentor
Katie Taylor
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
5-7-2025 11:30 AM
End Date
5-7-2025 1:30 PM
Location
PUB NCR
Primary Discipline of Presentation
Wellness & Movement Sciences
Abstract
Music has been an implementation during physical activity to positively influence mood, rating of perceived exertion, and athletic performance. However, there is limited research exploring tempo-matched music in comparison to metronome pacing while running. PURPOSE: To determine the effects of different auditory stimuli (e.g., music, metronome, and silence) on one mile run time in young adults. METHODS: 11 young adults (21.3 ± 4.1 y) without existing or previous hearing impairments completed the study. Each participants ran the one mile under each condition (silence, metronome, and music), in a randomized, counterbalanced order separated by at least 48 hours. Music and metronome tempo was set to 150 bpm. Time to completion was recorded for the one-mile run. Data was analyzed using a one-way repeated measures ANOVA (α = 0.05). RESULTS: There was significance in time to completion for one mile across the three conditions (p = .008). Time to completion was shorter with music (8.89 ± 1.36 minutes) than silence (9.29 ± 1.41 minutes; p = .002). There was no significance between music and metronome (.15 ± 1.65 minutes; p = .13) or between metronome and silence (p > .99). CONCLUSIONS: Running the mile listening to music results in shorter time to completion compared to tempo-matched metronome and silence. This suggests that factors other than tempo may contribute to improved performance. This study was limited to young adults. Future research should investigate auditory stimulus performance improvements in other populations (i.e., older adults and competitive runners).
Recommended Citation
Tamblyn, Anna L.; Brandt, Jodi; Schmidt, Chloe; Barnett, Grace; and Kern, Danielle, "To Play Or Not To Play: Investigating the Effects of Auditory Stimuli During Running" (2025). 2025 Symposium. 17.
https://dc.ewu.edu/srcw_2025/ps_2025/p2_2025/17
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
To Play Or Not To Play: Investigating the Effects of Auditory Stimuli During Running
PUB NCR
Music has been an implementation during physical activity to positively influence mood, rating of perceived exertion, and athletic performance. However, there is limited research exploring tempo-matched music in comparison to metronome pacing while running. PURPOSE: To determine the effects of different auditory stimuli (e.g., music, metronome, and silence) on one mile run time in young adults. METHODS: 11 young adults (21.3 ± 4.1 y) without existing or previous hearing impairments completed the study. Each participants ran the one mile under each condition (silence, metronome, and music), in a randomized, counterbalanced order separated by at least 48 hours. Music and metronome tempo was set to 150 bpm. Time to completion was recorded for the one-mile run. Data was analyzed using a one-way repeated measures ANOVA (α = 0.05). RESULTS: There was significance in time to completion for one mile across the three conditions (p = .008). Time to completion was shorter with music (8.89 ± 1.36 minutes) than silence (9.29 ± 1.41 minutes; p = .002). There was no significance between music and metronome (.15 ± 1.65 minutes; p = .13) or between metronome and silence (p > .99). CONCLUSIONS: Running the mile listening to music results in shorter time to completion compared to tempo-matched metronome and silence. This suggests that factors other than tempo may contribute to improved performance. This study was limited to young adults. Future research should investigate auditory stimulus performance improvements in other populations (i.e., older adults and competitive runners).
