Environmental sounds impact memory

Effects of city‐related and nature‐related sounds on episodic memory

Bibliographic Data

ID6415418
AuthorsZerin Fejzic (Department of Psychology University of Illinois Chicago Chicago Illinois USA), Johnathan J Villaseńor (Department of Psychology University of Illinois Chicago Chicago Illinois USA), Allison M Sklenar (0000-0001-8255-4709, Department of Psychology University of Illinois Chicago Chicago Illinois USA), Andrea N Frankenstein (Department of Psychology University of Illinois Chicago Chicago Illinois USA), Pauline Urban Levy (Department of Psychology University of Illinois Chicago Chicago Illinois USA), Eric D Leshikar (0000-0001-5099-841X, Department of Psychology University of Illinois Chicago Chicago Illinois USA, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume74
Issue4
Publication date2025-07-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueApplied Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0269-994X • E-ISSN: 1464-0597
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/apps.70016
OpenAlexW4412636436
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited84

Research from a broad range of scientific disciplines suggests that aspects of city environments, such as city‐related sounds, are associated with poor health and cognitive outcomes, whereas aspects of natural environments are associated with positive outcomes. Strikingly, essentially, no experimental work has examined effects of city‐ as well as nature‐related sound exposure on episodic memory, which is surprising given that people often live in sound‐exposed environments. We examine the effect of city‐related sounds, nature‐related sounds, and white noise (control) sounds on both item memory (i.e., memory for studied materials) as well as context memory (i.e., memory for episodic details associated with studied items) to gain a richer understanding of the effects of different environmental sounds on episodic memory. Results showed that exposure to the different sound conditions (city‐related, nature‐related) had no effect on item memory; however, exposure to city‐related sounds significantly reduced context memory compared to both the nature‐related and white noise (control) conditions, implying a cost to episodic memory from exposure to city‐related sounds. These results imply that exposure to city‐related sounds leads to reduced ability to form detail‐rich memories, which builds on existing work suggesting city‐related sound exposure harms aspects of health and cognition

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Episodic memory · Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation · Multisensory perception and integration · Neuroscience · Noise Effects and Management · Psychology

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