Exposure to Nature Sounds through a Mobile Application in Daily Life: Effects on Learning Performance among University Students

Jiutong Luo; Minhong Wang; Boyin Chen; Meng Sun

doi:10.3390/ijerph192114583

Exposure to Nature Sounds through a Mobile Application in Daily Life: Effects on Learning Performance among University Students

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 7;19(21):14583. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114583.

Authors

Jiutong Luo^{1

2

3}, Minhong Wang^{4

5}, Boyin Chen⁴, Meng Sun⁶

Affiliations

¹ Advanced Innovation Center for Future Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
² Center for Educational Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai 519087, China.
³ Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
⁴ Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
⁵ Department of Educational Information Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
⁶ College of Education for the Future, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai 519087, China.

Abstract

Previous studies have revealed the restorative effects of exposure to natural environments on psychological well-being and cognitive performance. Recent studies have reported the effects of exposure to nature sounds (e.g., the sounds of birds, rainfall, and waves) through a mobile application on reducing students' mental fatigue and improving their cognitive performance. However, it remains unknown whether exposure to nature sounds through a mobile application may influence students' learning performance. To address the gap, we conducted a study with 71 university students. During the four-week intervention, 36 students in the experimental group were exposed to nature sounds through a free mobile application for at least 30 consecutive minutes per day when working on academic-related tasks; 35 students in the control group did not have such exposure when working on similar tasks. The results show that students in the experimental group outperformed those in the control group in their engagement in deep learning, frequency of academic procrastination, and academic self-efficacy. The findings reveal the promising effects of exposure to nature sounds through a mobile application on improving students' learning performance. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords: exposure to nature sounds; learning performance; mobile application; university students.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Mobile Applications*
Procrastination*
Self Efficacy
Students / psychology
Universities

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 2021M700465), General Research Fund from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR Government (no. 17201415), National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 61977023), and the Eastern Scholar Chair Professorship Fund (no. JZ2017005) from Shanghai Municipal Education Commission of China.