Instrumental music versus Quran recitation: Which has the most influence on the accuracy and speed of work?

Abstract

Many studies have proved that instrumental music, as well as Quran recitation, affects human factors such as mood, performance, and intelligence. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no research on the effect of listening to Quran recitation before doing mental task on work productivity. This study examined the impact of instrumental music and Quran recitation on work productivity, especially on the accuracy and the speed of work. The study involved 20 people of productive age (15-64 years) as respondents. The true experimental one group pre-test and post-test design were used in analyzing the data. The data collected are the speed and the number of errors when conducting the Stroop task. The study found that instrumental music, as well as Quran recitation, has a significant contribution to the increase of the accuracy and the speed of work (p=0.00). The study also proved that Quran recitation has a significantly higher effect on work speed and accuracy compared to instrumental music treatment (p=0.00). The average speed of conducting the Stroop task with Quran recitation treatment is 7.67% higher than with the instrumental music. Furthermore, the average number of errors with Quran recitation treatment is significantly lower (e=2.93) than with the instrumental music treatment (e=4.68).