IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i5p3798-d1075301.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Traffic Noise at Moderate Levels Affects Cognitive Performance: Do Distance-Induced Temporal Changes Matter?

Author

Listed:
  • Leon Müller

    (Division of Applied Acoustics, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Jens Forssén

    (Division of Applied Acoustics, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Wolfgang Kropp

    (Division of Applied Acoustics, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Gothenburg, Sweden)

Abstract

Urbanization leads to an increased demand for urban housing, which can be met by building dwellings closer to streets. Regulations often limit equivalent sound pressure levels which do not account for changes in time structure that occur when decreasing the road distance. This study investigates the effect of such temporal changes on subjective workload and cognitive performance. A group of 42 participants performed a continuous performance test as well as a NASA-TLX workload test under three different sound conditions, i.e., close traffic, far traffic, both with the same equivalent sound pressure level of L Aeq ≈ 40 dB, and silence. Additionally, participants answered a questionnaire regarding their preferred acoustic environment for concentrated working. Significant effects of the sound condition on the multivariate workload results as well as on the number of commission errors in the continuous performance test were found. Post hoc tests showed no significant differences between the two noise conditions, but there were significant differences between noise and silence. This indicates that moderate traffic noise levels can influence cognitive performance and perceived workload. If there is a difference in the human response to road traffic noise with constant L Aeq but different time structures, the used methods are not suitable to detect them.

Suggested Citation

  • Leon Müller & Jens Forssén & Wolfgang Kropp, 2023. "Traffic Noise at Moderate Levels Affects Cognitive Performance: Do Distance-Induced Temporal Changes Matter?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:3798-:d:1075301
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/3798/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/3798/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karin Grundström & Irene Molina, 2016. "From Folkhem to lifestyle housing in Sweden: segregation and urban form, 1930s–2010s," European Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 316-336, July.
    2. Fabrizio Minichilli & Francesca Gorini & Elena Ascari & Fabrizio Bianchi & Alessio Coi & Luca Fredianelli & Gaetano Licitra & Federica Manzoli & Lorena Mezzasalma & Liliana Cori, 2018. "Annoyance Judgment and Measurements of Environmental Noise: A Focus on Italian Secondary Schools," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, January.
    3. Beat Schäffer & Armin Taghipour & Jean Marc Wunderli & Mark Brink & Lél Bartha & Sabine J. Schlittmeier, 2022. "Does the Macro-Temporal Pattern of Road Traffic Noise Affect Noise Annoyance and Cognitive Performance?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Rainer Guski & Dirk Schreckenberg & Rudolf Schuemer, 2017. "WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region: A Systematic Review on Environmental Noise and Annoyance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-39, December.
    5. Karin Grundström & Irene Molina, 2016. "From Folkhem to lifestyle housing in Sweden: segregation and urban form, 1930s–2010s," International Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 316-336, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lina Hedman & Maarten van Ham, 2021. "Three Generations of Intergenerational Transmission of Neighbourhood Context," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 129-141.
    2. Karin Grundström, 2022. "Shared Housing as Public Space? The Ambiguous Borders of Social Infrastructure," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 499-509.
    3. Beat Schäffer & Reto Pieren & Sabine J. Schlittmeier & Mark Brink, 2018. "Effects of Different Spectral Shapes and Amplitude Modulation of Broadband Noise on Annoyance Reactions in a Controlled Listening Experiment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Meng Ma & Wenqian Ran & Jinping Wu & Minghang Li & Xiangyu Qu, 2022. "Evaluating the Impact of Metro Interior Noise on Passenger Annoyance: An Experimental Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-19, April.
    5. Christoph Lechner & David Schnaiter & Stephan Bose-O’Reilly, 2019. "Combined Effects of Aircraft, Rail, and Road Traffic Noise on Total Noise Annoyance—A Cross-Sectional Study in Innsbruck," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-26, September.
    6. Karin Grundström & Christine Lelévrier, 2023. "Imposing ‘Enclosed Communities’? Urban Gating of Large Housing Estates in Sweden and France," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Terence Fell & Johanna Mattsson, 2021. "The Role of Public-Private Partnerships in Housing as a Potential Contributor to Sustainable Cities and Communities: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-25, July.
    8. Kolkowski, Lukas & Cats, Oded & Dixit, Malvika & Verma, Trivik & Jenelius, Erik & Cebecauer, Matej & Rubensson, Isak Jarlebring, 2023. "Measuring activity-based social segregation using public transport smart card data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    9. Luca Fredianelli & Peter Lercher & Gaetano Licitra, 2022. "New Indicators for the Assessment and Prevention of Noise Nuisance," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-5, October.
    10. Jenny Olofsson & Erika Sandow & Allan Findlay & Gunnar Malmberg, 2020. "Boomerang Behaviour and Emerging Adulthood: Moving Back to the Parental Home and the Parental Neighbourhood in Sweden," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(5), pages 919-945, November.
    11. Barend Wind & Lina Hedman, 2018. "The uneven distribution of capital gains in times of socio-spatial inequality: Evidence from Swedish housing pathways between 1995 and 2010," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(12), pages 2721-2742, September.
    12. Ingemar Elander & Eva Gustavsson, 2019. "From policy community to issue networks: Implementing social sustainability in a Swedish urban development programme," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 37(6), pages 1082-1101, September.
    13. Truls Gjestland, 2020. "On the Temporal Stability of People’s Annoyance with Road Traffic Noise," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-14, February.
    14. Ricardo Moreno & Francesco Bianco & Stefano Carpita & Alessandro Monticelli & Luca Fredianelli & Gaetano Licitra, 2023. "Adjusted Controlled Pass-By (CPB) Method for Urban Road Traffic Noise Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-17, March.
    15. Michail Evangelos Terzakis & Maud Dohmen & Irene van Kamp & Maarten Hornikx, 2022. "Noise Indicators Relating to Non-Auditory Health Effects in Children—A Systematic Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-20, November.
    16. Dominik Hauptvogel & Susanne Bartels & Dirk Schreckenberg & Tobias Rothmund, 2021. "Aircraft Noise Distribution as a Fairness Dilemma—A Review of Aircraft Noise through the Lens of Social Justice Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-18, July.
    17. Tran Thi Hong Nhung Nguyen & Bach Lien Trieu & Thu Lan Nguyen & Makoto Morinaga & Yasuhiro Hiraguri & Takashi Morihara & Yosiaki Sasazawa & Tri Quang Hung Nguyen & Takashi Yano, 2023. "Models of Aviation Noise Impact in the Context of Operation Decrease at Tan Son Nhat Airport," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-28, April.
    18. Myriam Tobollik & Matthias Hintzsche & Jördis Wothge & Thomas Myck & Dietrich Plass, 2019. "Burden of Disease Due to Traffic Noise in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, June.
    19. Uros Pantelic & Petar Lilic & Aleksandar Cvjetic & Nikola Lilic, 2023. "Environmental Noise Impact Assessment for Large-Scale Surface Mining Operations in Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, January.
    20. Owen Douglas & Enda Murphy, 2020. "Assessing the Treatment of Potential Effect Modifiers Informing World Health Organisation Guidelines for Environmental Noise," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-17, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:3798-:d:1075301. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.