This surprisingly simple trick can aid speech comprehension in noisy settings

Moving to a steady beat before listening can enhance how well people understand speech in noisy settings, according to new research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The study found that rhythmic finger tapping or speaking a word aloud—especially at a rate that mirrors natural speech rhythms—significantly improved participants’ ability to identify words embedded in background noise. These findings point to a surprisingly active role of the motor system in helping the brain process spoken language.

Understanding speech in noisy environments is a demanding task. Past research has shown that we rely not only on the sounds themselves but also on their timing—when things are said, not just what is said. The motor system, known for controlling movement, also plays a role in how we perceive time and rhythm. This study was designed to investigate whether moving in rhythm before hearing speech could prime the brain for better listening. Specifically, the researchers wanted to know whether rhythmic movement improves speech comprehension, whether the type or timing of movement matters, and whether speaking aloud can have similar benefits.

“This research stems from the idea that we are first and foremost beings of action, and that perception only comes later, as feedback to guide our actions. Perception is therefore ‘active,’ fundamentally dependent on and coupled with movement,” said study author Benjamin Morillon, research director at Inserm at Aix-Marseille University.

The researchers conducted a series of three related experiments. In the first, 35 French-speaking participants listened to sentences masked with background noise. Before each sentence, participants either remained still or tapped their finger in rhythm with a beat presented at one of three speeds: phrasal (about 1.1 beats per second), lexical (about 1.8 beats per second), or syllabic (about 5 beats per second). After hearing each sentence, participants had to choose the correct word from a list of four options.

The researchers measured both how accurate and how quick the participants were. They found that tapping at the lexical rate (around 1.8 Hz) led to significantly better word recognition compared to tapping at the slower phrasal rate. This improvement was not observed for the syllabic rate or in the passive condition. The findings suggest that moving at a rhythm aligned with the natural pace of word delivery helps the brain prepare to understand speech.

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In the second experiment, the researchers explored whether the benefits of rhythm came from movement alone, sound alone, or a combination of both. Forty-one participants completed a similar task online. This time, before each sentence, participants experienced one of four conditions: remaining passive, listening to a rhythmic beat, tapping freely at their own rhythm, or tapping in time with a beat.

The analysis showed that both listening to a beat and tapping rhythmically helped participants perform better than doing nothing. However, tapping—whether on its own or in sync with a beat—was especially effective. Participants who tapped rhythmically showed improved accuracy and responded more quickly than those who only listened to a beat. These results support the idea that engaging the motor system through movement, even when not directly related to speech, enhances listening performance in noisy settings.

In the third experiment, the researchers asked whether a more natural form of motor activity—speaking—could also improve listening. Thirty-eight participants were shown a verb before each sentence and were asked to either say it out loud or read it silently. The verb was either semantically related or unrelated to a target noun in the upcoming sentence. For example, participants might say “kick” before hearing a sentence that included the word “heels.”

The researchers found that saying the verb aloud improved listening performance, regardless of whether the word was semantically related to the target. This suggests that the benefit came from the act of speaking itself, rather than from any specific meaning. Simply engaging the motor system through speech appeared to prime the brain to process incoming spoken information more efficiently.

Morillon found the findings from the final experiment particularly surprising, as they indicate “that speaking helps to prepare for listening, and therefore to hear better.”

Together, the three experiments provide evidence that the motor system is not just for movement—it helps the brain anticipate when important information will occur in speech. This motor-based timing may provide a kind of internal clock that prepares the auditory system for incoming sounds. The benefits were especially strong when the rhythm matched the natural pace of word delivery—around 1.5 to 2 times per second.

“The main takeaway is that moving can help you hear better in noisy environments,” Morillon told PsyPost. “Just as we tap our feet when we play or listen to music, to keep up with the tempo, moving could help us follow the rhythm of speech.”

The findings also suggest that rhythmic movement doesn’t have to be tied to the speech itself to be helpful. Generic rhythms, whether from tapping or speaking, appear to help the brain tune in to speech, even when the timing is not specifically aligned with the structure of a sentence. This supports the broader idea that our brains recycle motor circuits, originally developed for physical movement, to help process time-based sensory information like music and speech.

But there are some limitations. Because all sentences were presented in noise, it’s not yet clear whether the improvements reflect a general boost to speech understanding or simply a better ability to focus on speech in challenging conditions. The study also did not examine whether participants’ musical training or rhythmic ability influenced the results, although such factors could play a role.

“The effects are significant but small,” Morillon noted. “It remains to be seen whether it’s possible to achieve greater performance gains. What’s more, in the experiments, we don’t tap or talk during listening, but beforehand, to prepare. This is different from music, where you tap while listening, which has a stronger impact.”

Future research could explore whether people with strong rhythmic skills benefit more from motor priming and whether these effects hold across different languages and age groups. Neuroimaging studies could also help uncover the brain networks involved in linking motor activity to auditory processing.

Morillon hopes to “understand if and how we process the temporal information of the speech signal, if we anticipate ‘when’ a piece of information is going to be delivered, in addition to anticipating ‘what’ is going to be said, and how these anticipation mechanisms interact.”

“How do we perceive time?” he added. “We recycle the motor system, which is a very precise clock for coordinating movements—such as antagonistic muscles—for estimating durations. Perceiving time (on the order of seconds) would then be a simulation of movements, an imagined dance.”

The study, “Moving rhythmically can facilitate naturalistic speech perception in a noisy environment,” was authored by Noémie te Rietmolen, Kristof Strijkers, and Benjamin Morillon.