Birdsong Rocks your Brain

Chirp, chirp.

Warble, warble.

Tweet, tweet.

That all sounds pretty. But can it help your brain?

Turns out, the answer is a resounding YES.

In 2021, Chinese scientists used a mobile app to turn more than seventy university students into guinea pigs. First thing the professors did was say, “go study!” (That wasn’t the experiment; the professors tell that to everyone). Shockingly, the academic pressure eroded both psychological well-being and cognitive performance and ultimately caused mental exhaustion. But then the researchers devised an app that played birdsong (and some other stuff) for the lucky half of the students. The unfortunate half were bereft of birdsong. This went on for four glorious (or drab, as the case may be) weeks.

The college kids who got an earful of birdsong rocked the casbah. They significantly outperformed the control cohort on multiple domains: Flow State: Measured using a scale to assess engagement and immersion in tasks. Birdsong elicited higher engagement and focus during academic tasks. Attention: An earful of tweeting improved alertness scores on the Attention Network Test (ANT), focusing on ability to maintain vigilance. Working Memory: Chirp, chirp, resulted in enhanced accuracy and faster reaction times on memory related tasks.

What’s more, the birdsong group showed increased engagement in deep learning, reduced academic procrastination, and higher self-efficacy.

Last, but not least, the lucky ducks showed a significant increase in positive affect (e.g., feelings of relaxation and comfort) compared to the control group.

In 2022, German scientists went in a slightly different direction. The researchers took a bunch of regular Joes and played birdsong to half of them. Then, they evaluated the volunteers’ psychological state (before and after) the experiment. It turns out, listening to a mere six minutes of daily birdsong recordings affects anxiety and paranoia compared to having one’s ears battered by urban noise. Astonishing!

Anxiety: Participants who listened to birdsong showed a significant reduction in anxiety levels compared to the control group. Paranoia: There was a notable decrease in paranoia scores in the birdsong group, indicating a calming effect on subclinical paranoid thoughts.

Interestingly, the German researchers reported that birdsong didn’t affect depression. They conjectured that birdsong may be more effective for anxiety-related states than mood disorders. A 2019 study by Stanford neuroscientists may shed some light on this somewhat paradoxical discrepancy. Instead of six minutes, the Californians subjected their volunteers to more than twenty minutes of birdsong. This higher dose of nature’s music seems to have done the trick. The population who enjoyed the extended bird symphony reported increases in positive affect (e.g., happiness, calm) and reduced negative affect (e.g., anxiety, depression) and significantly lower rates of mood disorders.

Birdsong’s complexity (varied pitch, rhythm) stimulates auditory processing without overwhelming the brain, unlike urban noise, which can cause cognitive fatigue. The evidence suggests birdsong may aid in mood recovery, emotional regulation, cognitive restoration and improved focus. So, if you want a brain boost, get out there and listen to your feathered friends.

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