I think they also need to control for a lot of different elements here that they probably haven't in their subject group and methods. Including neurodivergence, but also how engaging the task is.
It's not uncommon to hear claims from neurodivergent people about achieving optimal stimulation levels to perform a task. That can be increasing stimulation with music or motion, or decreasing it by blocking out sound with ear plugs. I've seen these play out and it seems to work. I think it's also safe to assume that someone wearing noise cancelling headphones is swapping one set of sounds for a quieter or at least less distracting one. If in fact they aren't just tuning people out by wearing headphones and not playing anything.
And even neurotypical people can maintain throughput on a boring task by accompanying it to music. Laborers and militia just being the most obvious in media. I've talked to a couple of neurodivergent people who admit to "singing" a song in their head while working. Just because you don't hear the music, doesn't mean there's no music.
It's not uncommon to hear claims from neurodivergent people about achieving optimal stimulation levels to perform a task. That can be increasing stimulation with music or motion, or decreasing it by blocking out sound with ear plugs. I've seen these play out and it seems to work. I think it's also safe to assume that someone wearing noise cancelling headphones is swapping one set of sounds for a quieter or at least less distracting one. If in fact they aren't just tuning people out by wearing headphones and not playing anything.
And even neurotypical people can maintain throughput on a boring task by accompanying it to music. Laborers and militia just being the most obvious in media. I've talked to a couple of neurodivergent people who admit to "singing" a song in their head while working. Just because you don't hear the music, doesn't mean there's no music.