Phil is in prep for surgery. As the anaesthetic is about to be administered, the anaesthetist says: “Oh, and by the way, during the procedure the surgical team will be listening to the hard rock classic, You Shook Me All Night Long.”

Does Phil say, “STOP! I’m getting out of here”?

Perhaps he shouldn’t. According to one study, by listening to AC/DC during surgery, doctors can improve their performance. Use of music in operating theatres has had mixed results but the study – which looked at young surgeons working on laparoscopic procedures at a hospital in Dresden while listening to various different kinds of background music – found background music reduced surgeons’ anxiety. And who wants an anxious surgery team, right?

Particularly for boring, repetitive jobs, music can help. Locking into the beat (psychologists call this “rhythmic entrainment” means your actions sync with the beat of the music, which can make routine tasks feel smoother and faster.

Put melody and beat together and, after a bit of practice, you too might be working like this postal officer – who even supplies his own melody.

Background music often doesn’t help with memory and language tasks, such as reading comprehension and........

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