The present study examined the effects of noise and sex as factors influencing children's ability to perform recall and spatial tasks. The study consisted of 60 fifth- and sixth-grade students tested using the digit recall and block design subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised (WISC-R; Wechsler, 1974). The researcher randomly assigned boys and girls to 3 groups: an unstructured white noise group, a music group, and a silent control group. Children in each group completed the same WISC-R subtests. Children in the 2 experimental groups worked while exposed to unstructured white noise or music at 70 dB. The results of the study indicated no significant difference between boys and girls in performance on recall and spatial tasks in the presence of unstructured white noise or music. The present study did find significance between experimental conditions as children in the unstructured white noise group performed significantly better than children in the music group. However, neither experimental group performed significantly better than the control group. This study indicated that exposure to unstructured white noise increases children's recall and spatial performance by improving concentration and organization ability.

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