The relation between the intelligibility of irrelevant speech and cognitive performance—A revised model based on laboratory studies

Haapakangas, Annu; Hongisto, Valtteri; Liebl, Andreas

doi:10.1111/ina.12726

Cited by 30 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 67 publications

(248 reference statements)

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“…Office noise and lack of speech privacy are among the environmental factors causing the largest dissatisfaction in open-plan offices [1]. One of the main reasons for this might be that work performance in concentration-demanding tasks has been found to improve with reducing intelligibility of irrelevant speech [2]. This is supported by the finding that disturbance due to noise was lower in offices having lower speech intelligibility [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Comfort Distance—A Single-Number Quantity Describing Spatial Attenuation in Open-Plan Offices

Hongisto¹,

Keränen²

2021

Applied Sciences

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ISO 3382-3 is globally used to determine the room acoustic conditions of open-plan offices using in situ measurements. The key outcomes of the standard are three single-number quantities: distraction distance, rD, A-weighted sound pressure level of speech, Lp,A,S,4m, and spatial decay rate of speech, D2,S. Quantities Lp,A,S,4m and D2,S describe the attenuation properties of the office due to room and furniture absorption and geometry. Our purpose is to introduce a new single-number quantity, comfort distance rC, which integrates the quantities Lp,A,S,4m and D2,S. It describes the distance from an omnidirectional loudspeaker where the A-weighted sound pressure level of normal speech falls below 45 dB. The study explains why the comfort criterion level is set to 45 dB, explores the comfort distances in 185 offices reported in previous studies. Based on published data, the rC values lie typically within 3 m (strong attenuation) and 30 m (weak attenuation). Based on this data, a classification scheme was proposed. The new quantity could benefit the revised version of ISO 3382-3.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Comfort Distance—A Single-Number Quantity Describing Spatial Attenuation in Open-Plan Offices

Hongisto¹,

Keränen²

2021

Applied Sciences

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“…To control the problems caused by speech and avoid the ISE, the STI (0 = not intelligible, 1 = perfectly intelligible) must be reduced at least below a value of 0.5 or even lower. Recent studies have shown that the decrease in cognitive performance begins above STI = 0.21 (Haapakangas, Hongisto, and Liebl 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using active noise-cancelling headphones in open-plan offices: No influence on cognitive performance but improvement of perceived privacy and acoustic environment

Mueller

Liebl²,

Herget³

et al. 2022

Front. Built Environ.

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High speech intelligibility in open-plan offices and thus a high changing-state character of the acoustic environment have been found to negatively influence cognitive performance. This is often attributed to the so-called irrelevant speech effect. Office workers lately use active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones to improve the acoustic situation by blocking unwanted sound. However, it is currently unknown if using ANC headphones in a noisy setting improves cognitive performance. Two studies were conducted to examine if ANC headphones improve cognitive performance and the subjective well-being of employees in an open-plan office. Cognitive performance was measured using a serial recall test. Subjective assessments were measured using a questionnaire. The participants were tested in silence, speech without headphones, speech with ANC headphones switched off and speech with ANC headphones switched on. No statistically significant differences were found between the conditions with ANC headphones switched on and off as well as without headphones for cognitive performance. However, ANC headphones statistically significantly improved subjective assessments such as perceived privacy and the assessment of the acoustic environment. The results provide a scientific basis for evaluating and planning the appropriate use of ANC headphones for concentration-intensive activities such as office work.

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“…A higher sound pressure level may be associated with a higher psychological demand for natural features ( Pheasant et al, 2008 ; Annu et al, 2020 ). The requirement for acoustic environments would also be higher for complex tasks (e.g., English reading comprehension) than simple tasks ( Haapakangas et al, 2020 ; Lou and Ou, 2020 ). However, comparative studies remain narrow in focus dealing only with accuracy rates and subjective perceptions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of indoor plants and traffic noise on English reading comprehension of Chinese university students in home offices

Zhang

Qiu³

et al. 2022

Front. Psychol.

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Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home promotes the importance of indoor environment qualities. With the settings and functions of home offices, an experiment was carried out to determine the interaction effects between indoor plants and traffic noise levels (TNLs) on the performance and environmental evaluations of English reading comprehension tasks (ERCTs) and the performance of short-term breaks. A sample of 22 Chinese university students (12 males and 10 females) took part in the experiment. Two visual conditions (with and without plants) and five TNLs (i.e., 35, 45, 50, 55, and 60 dBA TNL) were included. Participants’ accuracy rates, eye movements, mental workload, and feelings about the environment were collected. The mental fatigue recovery (MFR), visual fatigue recovery (VFR), anxiety recovery (AR), and unfriendly recovery (UR) were measured for the analysis of a 5-min short-term break. The results demonstrate (1) plants have significant effects on ERCTs and short-term breaks, especially at 45 and 50 dBA TNL; (2) the effects of TNLs on ERCTs’ eye movements and work environment satisfaction differ by the presence of plants, e.g., the average pupil diameter (APD), lighting and layout satisfaction; (3) The effects of indoor plants on ERCT differ by the range of TNLs. In conclusion, indoor plants are beneficial to home workers engaged in ERCT when TNL does not exceed 50 dBA. The current data highlight the importance of audio-visual interaction in home offices and provide insights into the interaction mechanism between indoor plants and traffic noise.

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The relation between the intelligibility of irrelevant speech and cognitive performance—A revised model based on laboratory studies

Cited by 30 publications

References 67 publications

Comfort Distance—A Single-Number Quantity Describing Spatial Attenuation in Open-Plan Offices

Comfort Distance—A Single-Number Quantity Describing Spatial Attenuation in Open-Plan Offices

Using active noise-cancelling headphones in open-plan offices: No influence on cognitive performance but improvement of perceived privacy and acoustic environment

The effects of indoor plants and traffic noise on English reading comprehension of Chinese university students in home offices

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