Closing Your Eyes Might Not Help You Hear Better After All

In noisy environments, study participants with their eyes closed struggled to hear faint sounds audible to their open-eyed counterparts. WASHINGTON, March 17, 2026 — Most people will close their eyes when trying to concentrate on a faint sound. Many of us have been told that keeping our eyes closed helps us hear better — that it frees up our brains’ processing abilities and increases our auditory sensitivity. However, that strategy may sometimes backfire, particularly in environments with a lot.