Noise perception and cognitive effort in the simulated reverberant and quiet environment of the New Central Civic Library of Torino

In recent years, libraries have evolved from spaces dedicated exclusively to individual study into multifunctional environments, which integrate social and cultural activities. However, nowadays libraries can be experienced in two different ways, i.e., either as a traditional quiet space dedicated to individual study, or as a multifunctional environment that accommodates a wider range of noisy activities. Consequently, noise perception and its impact on users’ annoyance and cognitive performance have become important research topics. This study investigates these aspects within the simulated quiet sound environment of the New Civic Central Library of Torino (Italy). With a volume of approximately 160000 m 3 and a reverberation time of about 5 s at mid frequencies, it is designed to accommodate various functions, but in this study, the primary activity of the individual study was examined. A geometrical acoustic simulation was run using Odeon 18. Four receivers were defined, exposed to various noise sources: traffic, ventilation, ambient buzz, footsteps, page-turning, pen taps, and intelligible speech. Mixed noise levels at the receivers ranged from 43 to 47 dB(A), reproducing realistic conditions of similar library environments. Listening tests were performed with 24 normal-hearing participants aged 20–55 using static headphones. Participants completed tasks reflecting typical library activities. No significant differences were revealed in most cognitive outcomes between noise and silence conditions. The only exception was a semantic processing task, such as reading aloud, which showed slight deterioration under noise exposure. These findings emphasise the importance of appropriate acoustic design even in quiet libraries to safeguard cognitive performance. • The acoustic environment of historical and contemporary libraries has been studied. • A realistic acoustic environment has been simulated in a large reverberant library. • Several realistic noise sources have been included in a complex simulation. • Moderate multi-source noise reduces cognitive performance in complex verbal tasks.