Summary no.2
From MyWiki
Our group has had several days to meet and have decided to broaden our specific topics. We are still concentrating on visual and audio stimulus. This second time around, I found it much easier to find three articles dealing with the affects on cognition due to annoying sounds. Since starting the project, I have really noticed the effects that annoying sounds have on my concentration. When I am sitting in class and my neighbor starts typing on their computer, or when someone’s phone vibrates I become very distracted. Or like right now, I am typing this paper while referring back to my articles and my neighbor’s dogs are distracting me! I find it very difficult doing my work because I am thrown completely out of my groove. The articles that I have read make me better understand why annoying sounds affect people’s ability to learn. Some research that I found shows that everyday people become distracted with all sorts of different noises. One article did a study which assessed the disturbance level of office noise in relation to environmental satisfaction, job satisfaction, and job performance ratings. Among these ratings, “54% of workers said that they were bothered often by noise, especially by people talking and the telephones ringing” (Sundstrom, Town, Rice, Osborn, & Brill, 1994). Probably one of the most important features that a job could offer is a quiet work environment.
Another survey found “that 67% of the noise came from telephones ringing, 55% came from people talking, and the rest were from the air conditioning, typewriters, and office machinery” (Sundstrom et. al., 1994). All of these workers experienced stress caused by the inability to concentrate. More evidence on these studies suggests that disrupting sounds not only lead to stress, but also to dissatisfaction with the job, distractions, decrease in job performance, and sometimes overload.
Also looked at was the before and after results on distracting noises when the office had been renovated. Before the renovation, the scores were very high on the noticeably of noises. “Renovations of offices brought no change, on average, in the level of environmental satisfaction but was accompanied by an average drop in satisfaction (sundstrom et. al., 1994). Some of the causes for the increase after the renovations are, “fewer workstations in private offices with walls to the ceiling, less floor space per employee, and the increased population density may have intensified the sound levels, and finally the equipment (copiers and printers) were moved to more locations distributed throughout the office areas (Sundstrom et. al., 1994). Things done to decrease the noise were; carpeted floors which reduced the echoing, acoustically treated ceilings, and some enclosed workstations covered with cloth.
Another article clearly states “that noise seems to impair performance on a wide variety of tasks, including motor tasks, reading comprehension, and problem solving” (Raffaello, Maass, 2002). A field study was done which compared two industries, both which had high noise levels. One of the factories moved to a new sight where the noise level was reduced and the other factory stated in the same location where the noise level was high. The purpose was to find out whether the reduction of noise in the work setting would lead to greater satisfaction on both the environment and the job, reduce stress symptoms, and reduce difficulty of communication. There is strong evidence that suggest that noise may reduce productivity and increase ones error rate along with decreasing their motivation and well-being.
Before the factory moved to the new site, the noise level was very high. The workers filled out a survey asking questions about the different noises and how much they were distracted by the noises. The results on the pre-test survey showed that workers did experience different noises and most of them were extremely distracted by those particular noises. Not only were they distracted, but they found it difficult communicating with their fellow workers and stressed out.
“After moving to the new site, workers not only reported significantly lesser disturbance by noise, and greater environmental satisfaction, by also showed greater general job satisfaction, fewer stress symptoms, and lesser difficulty of communication. Also, their images of the company became much more favorable and they reported greater attachment to the company” (Raffaello & Maass, 2002). This indicated that by reducing the noise levels, one is more apt to concentrate, decrease stress levels, and improve satisfaction with the job.
The final article indicates that students and teachers in a classroom setting are easily distracted. There are different things that can be done to help minimize the disturbances. One suggests “that we are able to adapt to noisy situations not only by tuning them out, but also by inhibiting and restricting activities that create noise and disturbance” (Ahrentzen & Evans, 2002).
The major goal of this particular study was to determine whether particular classroom environmental features influence distraction, privacy, and general satisfaction for the students and teachers. This time they focused not only on the distractions, but what may influence these distractions. Two major theories suggest that classroom design and activities performed. Teachers seemed to be less distracted with large amounts of structural walls. “On the other hand, few architectural features affect student distraction” (Ahrentzen & Evans, 2002).
What I find the most interesting about all of these articles is how the overall design of a room plays a major factor in distraction. The last article indicates that students and teachers have different priorities when it comes to classroom design. Teachers need large structural walls with lots of room, where as children seem to prefer smaller spaces with less architectural features. Either way, we are always going to be distracted by something. It is not the end of the world, which is why we have been able to deal with these distractions for so long. My group is headed in the right direction and it defiantly helped broadening our topic. I believe that these articles will contribute to our project. They defiantly have given me a better understanding on the effects of noises and other distractions.
References:
Sundstrom, E., Town, J. P., Rice, R. W., Osborn, D. P., Brill, M. (1994). Office noise, satisfaction, and performance. Environment and Behavior, 26, 195-222.
Raffaello, M., Maass, A. (2002). Chronic exposure to noise in industry: the effects on satisfaction, stress symptoms, and company attachment, 23, 651-671.
Ahrentzen, S., Evans, G. W. (1984). Distraction, privacy, and classroom design. Environment and Behavior, 16, 437-454.
