A Feedback Method Adjusting Music Volume Based on User’s Task Performance on Calculation

Many people listen to music while working or studying. Listening to music pieces is expected to raise the user’s motivation and concentration. However, listening to music pieces does not always lead to enhanced concentration or improved work efficiency. This study focuses on the music volume among music elements. As an important topic in this study, the workers do not know what volume suits them when working while listening to music. When concentrating on work, the user is not listening to music as content; it might act as a mask. In this case, too, there is an appropriate volume for the user to concentrate on the task by the masking effect with a masking volume. This study proposes a method that adjusts the volume to enhance the user’s task based on information obtained as work progresses while listening to music. This method aims to be a kind of feedback that automatically adjusts the volume to improve work efficiency. A concrete system was constructed with the input source as a calculation task. Experiments with calculation tasks with 2-digit and 3-digit were conducted. In 3-digit experiment, significant differences in the time and volume between “Feedback” and “Fixed volume” conditions.