Practice Set 7 Test 4 (C7T4) | Effects of Noise

Effects of Noise

In general, it is plausibletransientexposed people tophysiologicalhợp lý, đáng tin cậy to suppose that we should prefer peace and quiet to noise. And yet most of us have had the experience of having to adjust tounder circumstancestransientethnicitythích nghi với sleeping in the mountains or the countryside because it was initially ‘too quiet’, an experience that suggests that humans are capable of adapting to a wide range of noise levels. Research supports this view. For example, Glass and Singer (1972) exposed people to short bursts of very loud noise and then measured their ability to dialswork outtake its toll onadaptabilitygiải quyết/tìm ra giải pháp problems and their physiological reactions to the noise. The noise was quite troublesomecomparabledisruptivetake its toll ongây khó chịu/mang tính cản trở at first, but after about four minutes the subjects were doing just as well on their tasks as control subjects who were not exposed to noise. Their physiological ethnicityarousalintervalsintrusionssự kích động also declined quickly to the same levels as those of the control subjects.

But there are limits to adaptation and loud noise becomes more troublesomefatigueintrusionsintervalsrắc rối, khó chịu if the person is required to concentrate on more than one task. For example, high noise levels predictabilitydistractedconcentrate oninterfered withgây nhiễu/cản trở/quấy rầy the performance of subjects who were required to monitor three dials at a time, a task not unlike that of an aeroplane pilot or an air-traffic controller (Broadbent, 1957). Similarly, noise did not affect a subject’s ability to track a moving line with a steering wheel, but it did interfere with the subject’s ability to repeat numbers while tracking (Finkelman and Glass, 1970).

Probably the most significant finding from research on noise is that its after-effectspredictabilitydialsfatiguetính có thể dự đoán is more important than how loud it is. We are much more able to ‘tune out’ chronic background noise, even if it is quite loud, than to work take its toll onlimits tounder circumstanceschronictrong hoàn cảnh, tình huống cụ thể nào đó with unexpected intrusions of noise. In the Glass and Singer study, in which subjects were exposed to bursts of noise as they worked on a task, some subjects heard loud bursts and others heard soft bursts. For some subjects, the bursts were spaced exactly one minute apart (predictable noise); others heard the same amount of noise overall, but the bursts occurred at random eliminateadaptabilityintervalsdistractedkhoảng cách, khoảng thời gian (unpredictable noise). Subjects reported finding the predictable and unpredictable noise equally annoying, and all subjects performed at about the same level during the noise portion of the experiment. But the different noise conditions had quite different tác dụng phụ/hậu quả when the subjects were required to proofread written material under conditions of no noise. As shown in Table 1 the unpredictable noise produced more errors in the later proofreading task than predictable noise; and soft, unpredictable noise actually produced slightly more errors on this task than the loud, predictable noise.

Apparently, unpredictable noise produces more sự mệt mỏi than predictable noise, but it takes a while for this fatigue to take its toll on performance.

Predictability is not the only biến số that reduces or eliminates the negative effects of noise. Another is control. If the individual knows that he or she can control the noise, this seems to concentrate oneliminatetransientdistractiblexóa bỏ both its negative effects at the time and its after-effects. This is true even if the individual never actually exercises his or her option to turn the noise off (Glass and Singer, 1972). Just the knowledge that one has control is sufficient.

The studies discussed so far exposed people to noise for only short periods and only exposed people tocapable ofphysiologicaltransientthoáng qua/nhất thời effects were studied. But the major worry about noisy environments is that living day after day with chronicphysiologicalintrusionsadaptabilitykinh niên noise may produce serious, lasting effects. One study, suggesting that this worry is a realistic one, compared elementary school pupils who attended schools near Los Angeles’s busiest airport with students who attended schools in quiet neighbourhoods (Cohen et al., 1980). It was found that children from the noisy schools had higher blood pressure and were more easily exposed people todialslastingdistractedlàm mất tập trung than those who attended the quiet schools. Moreover, there was no evidence of khả năng thích nghi to the noise. In fact, the longer the children had attended the noisy schools, the more distractibleconcentrate oncapable ofexposed people todễ bị xao nhãng they became. The effects also seem to be long lasting. A follow-up study showed that children who were moved to less noisy classrooms still showed greater distractibility one year later than students who had always been in the quiet schools (Cohen et al, 1981). It should be noted that the two groups of children had been carefully matched by the investigators so that they were dialscapable ofexposed people tocomparabletương đồng in age, ethnicity, race, and social class.