Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, Germany.
Appl Ergon. 2012 Mar;43(2):424-34. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2011.06.017. Epub 2011 Jul 29.
Information work is usually performed in offices and influenced by the combined effects of acoustics, room climate, lighting and air quality. However, the principal part of literature solely focuses on the individual effects of physical parameters. This study (n = 32) investigates the combined effects of acoustic and visual distraction with regard to cognitive performance and well-being. Therefore low level background speech (40 dB(A)) of good or poor intelligibility was combined with either static or dynamic lighting. Experimental testing lasted for approx. 7 h for each participant and was conducted in mock-up offices. No interaction effects of background speech and lighting conditions with regard to cognitive performance were found. However, the results prove that even low level background speech of high intelligibility significantly impairs short-term memory, reasoning ability and well-being. But no effect of background speech on text comprehension and sustained attention was found. Visual distraction due to dynamic lighting caused significant complaints but did not impair performance. An interaction effect of background speech and lighting conditions was found with regard to perceived performance during task processing. Test persons only felt to perform better, if background speech of low intelligibility was combined with static lighting. It is shown that the effects on cognitive performance and well-being must be considered separately since these effects are rarely consistent.
信息工作通常在办公室进行，并受到声学、室内气候、照明和空气质量等综合因素的影响。然而，文献的主要部分仅关注物理参数的个别影响。本研究（n = 32）调查了声学和视觉干扰对认知表现和幸福感的综合影响。因此，将低水平背景语音（40 dB(A)）的良好或较差可懂度与静态或动态照明相结合。每位参与者的实验测试持续了大约 7 小时，在模拟办公室中进行。在认知表现方面，没有发现背景语音和照明条件的交互效应。然而，结果证明，即使是高可懂度的低水平背景语音也会显著损害短期记忆、推理能力和幸福感。但是，没有发现背景语音对文本理解和持续注意力的影响。由于动态照明造成的视觉干扰会引起明显的不适，但不会影响表现。在任务处理过程中，发现背景语音和照明条件之间存在交互效应。只有当低可懂度的背景语音与静态照明相结合时，测试人员才会感觉表现更好。结果表明，必须分别考虑对认知表现和幸福感的影响，因为这些影响很少一致。
