When Noise Brings Order: A Jungian and Musical Reflection on New ADHD Research
A New Look at Sound and Attention
A new study from Ghent University has quietly overturned one of the leading theories about how sound affects the brain in people with traits of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Published in the Journal of Attention Disorders, the research by Rijmen, Senoussi, and Wiersema (2025) challenges the long-standing moderate brain arousal model, which proposed that random background noise such as white or pink noise boosts cognitive performance by adding a dose of beneficial chaos to an otherwise under-stimulated brain.
When the world grows too silent, a little noise—or better still, structured musical rhythm—may be precisely what restores the music of the mind.
What the Study Found
The researchers measured brain activity in adults with varying levels of ADHD traits while they sat in silence, listened to continuous pink noise, and then to a pure 100 Hz tone. Using electroencephalography (EEG), they examined a neural marker known as the aperiodic slope—a direct indicator of background brain noise.
If the traditional model were correct, people with more ADHD traits should show less internal neural noise, and only the random sound should increase it through a process called stochastic resonance.
Instead, the opposite occurred. Participants with higher ADHD traits had more baseline neural noise, not less—and both the pink noise and the pure tone produced the same effect: they reduced that neural noise (Rijmen et al., 2025).
In other words, it was not randomness that helped but simply the presence of a steady sound field. The authors suggest that rather than stimulating an under-active brain, sound may help regulate arousal—supporting the view that ADHD involves difficulty maintaining an optimal state of alertness rather than a shortage of internal activity.
A Jungian Perspective: Energy Seeking Balance
From a Jungian perspective, these findings speak to something deeper than neurophysiology. Jung described the psyche as an energetic system in constant motion, seeking equilibrium between opposing tendencies—activity and rest, tension and release (CW 8, para. 253). When this self-regulating rhythm falters, psychic energy becomes scattered or flooded, producing restlessness, impulsivity, or inattention. The excessive neural noise observed in ADHD might therefore correspond to an undirected libido, a surplus of psychic energy lacking symbolic form.
Sound as a Container for the Psyche
Sound, in this light, becomes more than sensory input; it functions as a container for diffuse psychic excitation. Continuous auditory stimulation—whether the randomness of pink noise or the simplicity of a tone—creates a rhythmic boundary within which the restless psyche can settle. Just as ritual chanting, drumming, or mantra once helped to centre the mind, modern auditory fields may offer a contemporary means of restoring psychic coherence.
Music, Rhythm, and the Regulation of Attention
Recent music research reinforces this view. A narrative review of music interventions for ADHD found that musical activity supports attention through mechanisms of arousal regulation, temporal entrainment, and emotion modulation (Verrusio et al., 2024).
Studies show that adults with ADHD traits who engage in long-term instrumental training exhibit improved impulse control and sustained attention (Miyazaki et al., 2024), while an eight-week combined music-and-movement program in children increased EEG alpha power—linked to calmer brain states—and enhanced attentional performance (Kim & Lee, 2024).
These findings echo Jung’s idea that rhythm and form enable psychic energy to flow in ordered patterns rather than chaotic discharge.
From Chaos to Rhythm: The Symbolic View
The paradox is striking: noise brings order, and more broadly music brings rhythm.
What neuroscience measures as reduced neural variability, depth psychology recognises as the re-establishment of rhythm—the ego re-entering relation with the Self’s regulating centre.
ADHD, viewed symbolically, may thus represent a disturbance of inner rhythm rather than a deficit of attention. The task is not merely to suppress stimulation but to find forms—auditory, artistic, or relational—that can hold the intensity of psychic life.
Bridging Neuroscience and Depth Psychology
By questioning a mechanistic model, this study invites renewed dialogue between neuroscience, music therapy, and depth psychology. It suggests that our brains, like our psyches, seek resonance and containment more than stimulation. When the world grows too silent, a little noise—or better still, structured musical rhythm—may be precisely what restores the music of the mind.
References
- Jung, C. G. (1960). The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche. CW 8. Princeton University Press.
- Kim, H., & Lee, Y. (2024). Effects of combined music and movement training on attention and EEG activity in children with ADHD. Frontiers in Psychology.
- Miyazaki, K., et al. (2024). Musical training and executive functions in young adults with ADHD traits. Psychology of Music.
- Rijmen, J., Senoussi, M., & Wiersema, J. R. (2025). Pink Noise and a Pure Tone Both Reduce 1/f Neural Noise in Adults With Elevated ADHD Traits: A Critical Appraisal of the Moderate Brain Arousal Model. Journal of Attention Disorders.
- Verrusio, W., et al. (2024). Music interventions in ADHD: Mechanisms and outcomes. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.
About the Author
Dr John O’Brien is a senior Jungian psychoanalyst and executive coach supervisor whose work bridges analytical psychology with leadership practice. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology and a Diploma in Analytical Psychology from the C. G. Jung Institute Zürich, where he also contributes as a lecturer, examiner and training analyst.
John’s professional path began in vocational guidance, education, and counselling, before evolving into psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Alongside his clinical work, he has extensive experience in individual and team consulting with major corporations and social service organisations, focusing on how psychological dynamics influence leadership, collaboration, and organisational change.
As both a practitioner and independent researcher, John seeks to integrate academic insight with lived human experience. His writing and teaching emphasise the relevance of Jungian thought for contemporary challenges, whether in individual development or in complex organisational systems. Through this work, his aim is to support processes of growth, reflection, and transformation at both personal and collective levels.
