Hearing and Thinking

Radun and colleagues investigated the effects of particular sorts of sound on cognitive performance and report that “Exposure to impulsive sound (65 dB LAeq) was compared with quiet sound (35 dB LAeq) and steady-state sound (65 dB LAeq). . . . Compared to quiet sound, impulsive sound caused more annoyance, workload, and lack of energy, raised cortisol concentrations, reduced systolic blood pressure, and decreased accuracy. . . . Compared with steady-state sound, impulsive sound was experienced as more annoying and causing a higher workload and more lack of energy. Impulsive sound caused physiological and psychological stress and decreased performance compared to quiet sound. . . . Impulsive sound . . . involves strong onsets, i.e., rapid elevations of the sound level, and a release of sound right after the impulse has reached its maximum. . . . examples in everyday life are walking, door sounds, ball games, keyboard tapping, and hammering.”  Physiological stress was determined using concentrations of stress hormones, heart rate variability, and blood pressure readings.

Jenni Radun, Henna Maula, Ville Rajala, Mika Scheinin, and Valtteri Hongisto.  “Acute Stress Effects of Impulsive Noise During Mental Work.”  Journal of Environmental Psychology, in press, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101819