Finger tapping may sharpen hearing in noisy settings

According to a new study, rhythmically tapping your fingers on a table may help you understand speech more clearly in noisy environments. It's worth a try!

Ever struggled to hear someone in a busy restaurant?

A new study from France suggests that tapping your fingers rhythmically could make it easier to understand speech amid noise.

Led by psycholinguist Noémie te Rietmolen from Aix-Marseille University, the research team designed experiments to explore how the brain's motor system processes auditory information. According to the researchers, the motor system doesn't just control movement—it also plays an active role in processing timing cues.

HOW DO WE PERCEIVE WORDS IN NOSE?

Native French-speaking participants listened to 40 different recorded sentences with distracting background noise. In the second phase—the most striking part of the study—participants were asked to "prepare" in various ways before listening:

Some tapped their fingers on the table at a self-chosen rhythm, others followed a pre-recorded rhythm. Some only listened to the rhythm without moving, while others simply waited quietly for the sentence to begin.

The results were clear: those who tapped rhythmically or followed the given rhythm perceived the sentences more accurately and quickly.

THE BRAIN TRACKS SPEECH THROUGH MOVEMENT

Researchers emphasized that this effect is directly tied to the brain's motor system. "These findings show that the motor system plays a functional role in processing timing in natural speech," they noted.

So next time you're struggling to follow a conversation in a noisy place, try lightly tapping your fingers in rhythm on the table—it might help your brain focus better on the sound.