The impact of environmental noise on the cognitive functions and mental workload of high school students

Research shows that environmental noise has significant negative impacts on the cognitive processes of young children. Past research has focused on young children or adults and has looked primarily at higher noise levels (>70 dBA). This study covers a gap in literature by observing 70 teenagers from an upstate New York high school who completed tests of select cognitive processes in one of five background noise conditions: 30 dBA of aircraft noise, 30 dBA of construction noise, 60 dBA of aircraft noise, 60 dBA of construction noise, or quiet (i.e., no additional noise). Outcome measures included task accuracy and the workload experienced while completing the task as measured by the NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). We hypothesized that the level and type of background noise would impact both task accuracy and NASA-TLX ratings. Linear regression for task accuracy revealed statistically insignificant (p>0.05) effects of the three noise levels and two noise types. However, noise levels impacted NASA-TLX ratings (p<0.05). Results suggest that the students experiencing 30 or 60 dBA of background noise recruited more attentional resources to reach the same level of accuracy as their peers who completed the tasks in quiet. Educators should be aware of this discrepancy between mental demand and cognitive task accuracy to understand a significant cognitive strain stems from noise levels not defined as “harmful” (<70 dBA for <8 hours as suggested by the CDC). Future research should study a longitudinal version of this experiment, as there may be amplified mental workload strain over time.