Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
Medical Device Research Center, Samsung Electronics, Seoul, South Korea.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2021 Oct;150(4):3149. doi: 10.1121/10.0006383.
Exposure to noise-or unwanted sound-is considered a major public health issue in the United States and internationally. Previous work has shown that even acute noise exposure can influence physiological response in humans and that individuals differ markedly in their susceptibility to noise. Recent research also suggests that specific acoustic properties of noise may have distinct effects on human physiological response. Much of the existing research on physiological response to noise consists of laboratory studies using very simple acoustic stimuli-like white noise or tone bursts-or field studies of longer-term workplace noise exposure that may neglect acoustic properties of the noise entirely. By using laboratory exposure to realistic heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) noise, the current study explores the interaction between acoustic properties of annoying noise and individual response to working in occupational noise. This study assessed autonomic response to two acoustically distinct noises while participants performed cognitively demanding work. Results showed that the two HVAC noises affected physiological arousal in different ways. Individual differences in physiological response to noise as a function of noise sensitivity were also observed. Further research is necessary to link specific acoustic characteristics with differential physiological responses in humans.
暴露于噪声或不想要的声音在美国和国际上被认为是一个主要的公共卫生问题。先前的工作表明，即使是急性噪声暴露也会影响人类的生理反应，而且个体对噪声的敏感性差异很大。最近的研究还表明，噪声的特定声学特性可能对人类生理反应产生不同的影响。对噪声生理反应的大部分现有研究都是在实验室中进行的，使用的是非常简单的声学刺激，如白噪声或纯音爆发，或者是对长期工作场所噪声暴露的现场研究，这些研究可能完全忽略了噪声的声学特性。通过使用实验室暴露于真实的供暖、通风和空调（HVAC）噪声，本研究探讨了令人讨厌的噪声的声学特性与个体在职业噪声中工作的反应之间的相互作用。这项研究评估了参与者在进行认知要求高的工作时对两种声音明显不同的噪声的自主反应。结果表明，这两种 HVAC 噪声以不同的方式影响生理唤醒。还观察到噪声敏感性个体对噪声的生理反应存在差异。需要进一步的研究将特定的声学特征与人类的差异生理反应联系起来。
