Ongoing History Daily: Can’t hear someone when the music is too loud? Try this.

You might find it annoying when the music at a venue, restaurant, or party is so loud you can’t hear what the person next to you is saying. Here’s a weird little trick that might help.

Start by concentrating on the person as much as possible. Then start tapping your fingers in a steady rhythm. That’s it.

Researchers in France have found that the simple act of tapping your fingers in a noisy environment will make it easier to pick out speech and other sounds. Why? Well, they’re not sure. It seems to have something to do with a connection between our ability to process speech and our body’s motor system. Tapping your fingers somehow “contributes to the integration and reuse of temporal information.”

Try this the next time the music is too loud and you want to hear what your friend is saying.