That's also the main reason why airline catering companies add extra salt and spices to the dishes they cook, but you know what may help you — noise-canceling earphones.
In a paper-based exam, you may get earphones in some of the centers but quite often you're just in a room full of people with loudspeakers and it's not as clear at all.
In the " live" experiment, participants lay in an mri scanner listening to the music through earphones, while a pianist was positioned outside the room.