Effects of intermittent, moderate intensity noise stress on human performance

Abstract

Studied the effects of prolonged exposure to 2 noise stressors (random and patterned intermittent 0 and 85 db) on the performance of 60 male undergraduates on 3 tasks requiring different abilities (reaction time, rate control, and time-sharing). The sensitivity of alternate metrics of performance degradation was also evaluated within an analysis of covariance design. Ss were randomly assigned to the various treatments, and a series of 2 * 2 * 4 (Noise Intensity * Noise Quality * Trial Blocks) covariance analyses were carried out. The effects of random noise on performance depended on the type of task and performance measure. The reaction-time task was affected, the rate-control task was not, and the time-sharing task was affected only after continued exposure to noise. Patterned noise had insignificant effects. (20 ref) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)