HUMAN PERFORMANCE AS A FUNCTION OF CHANGES IN ACOUSTIC NOISE LEVELS

Abstract

Psychomotor performance of 16 subjects was evaluated under four noise conditions, during four test sessions, in a Latin square design. Three experimental conditions each began with different intensities of noise (Quiet, 85 dB, or 95 dB). After 30 minutes exposure the noise was changed to a final high intensity level (110dB), which lasted for 15 minutes. The fourth condition served as a control, in which Quiet prevailed throughout the entire 45 minute period. The results partially supported the hypothesis that greater changes in noise levels produce greater decrements in performance. There was, however, a strong interaction between noise conditions and sessions. The nature of this interaction indicated that this phenomenon does not occur uniformly throughout the course of learning, and probably is of lesser importance for well learned tasks.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1965
Accession Number
AD0628198

Entities

People

  • Charles S. Harris
  • Richard W. Shoenberger

Organizations

  • Air Force Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Air Force
  • Analysis Of Variance
  • Behavioral Sciences
  • Biomedical Research
  • Classification
  • Contractors
  • Electron Tubes
  • Experimental Design
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Intensity
  • Learning
  • Motor Skills
  • Noise
  • Psychomotor Performance
  • Security
  • Sound Pressure

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Circadian Sleep-Wake Regulation and Chronobiology
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.