I know that it's better to not listen to anything, but some people like me are addicted to music.<p>I came to the conclusion that if I'm listening to rock where the main singer is a baritone or bass(or the music is , like Joy Division I don't lose my concentration) but on the other way, if I'm listening to something were the singer is a tenor, then I'm fucked. That's also why probably the popular music generated by males are usually by tenors, it alienates the mind of the listener.<p>So when you are going to do something serious or want to have a better productivity while listening to music, don't listen stuff with high notes, believe me, it works.
Many years ago in my first tech job, before the ipod, I had a sony walkman where I would change the batteries more often than the tape.<p>This one tape would be on continuous loop for days and weeks at a time. I had never been more productive in that job. But in effect I wasn't listening to music at all I was blocking out the distractions from the open plan office we worked in.<p>Since then I've experimented and found that ear plugs work best of all.
My experience shows otherwise. When I listen to some deep, gloomy metal, that's a far higher diversion than listening to, say, some ambient music with a female singer. Even though the latter has far more high notes.