Effects of Noise and Task Loading on a Communication Task

Abstract

Previous research had shown the effect of noise on a single communication task. This research has been criticized as not being representative of a real world situation since subjects allocated all of their attention to only one task. In the present study, the effect of adding a loading task to a standard noise-communication paradigm was investigated. Subjects performed both a communication task (Modified Rhyme Test; House et al. 1965) and a short term memory task (Sternberg, 1969) in simulated levels of aircraft noise (95, 105 and 115 dB overall sound pressure level (OASPL)). Task loading was varied with Sternberg's task by requiring subjects to memorize one, four, or six alphanumeric characters. Simulated aircraft noise was varied between levels of 95, 105 and 115 dB OASPL using a pink noise source. Results show that the addition of Sternberg's task and little effect on the intelligibility of the communication task while response time for the communication task increased.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA196378

Entities

People

  • Dean H. Orrell Ii

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force Facilities
  • Ambient Noise
  • Biomedical Research
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Workload
  • Communication Systems
  • Computers
  • Data Analysis
  • Data Science
  • Experimental Design
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Psychology
  • Task Performance And Analysis
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Training

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Brain and Cognitive Science; Experimental Psychology; Cognitive Neuroscience