Research by Tamesue confirms that “meaningful” office noise degrades professional performance. A press release detailing findings he presented at the 5th Joint Meeting Acoustical Society of America and Acoustical Society of Japan reports that, “When carrying out intellectual activities involving memory or arithmetic tasks, it is a common experience for noise to cause an increased psychological impression of ‘annoyance,’ leading to a decline in performance. This is more apparent for meaningful noise, such as conversation, than it is for other random, meaningless noise…the impact of meaningless and meaningful noises on selective attention and cognitive performance in volunteers, as well as the degree of subjective annoyance of those noises, were investigated…selective attention to cognitive tasks was influenced by the degree of meaningfulness of the noise…the subjective experience of annoyance in response to noise increased due to the meaningfulness of the noise…That means that when designing sound environments in spaces used for cognitive tasks, such as the workplace or schools, it is appropriate to consider not only the sound level, but also meaningfulness of the noise that is likely to be present…Because it is difficult to soundproof an open office, a way to mask meaningful speech with some other sound would be of great benefit for achieving a comfortable sound environment.”
Takahiro Tamesue. 2016. “Effects of Meaningful or Meaningless Noise on Psychological Impression for Annoyance and Selective Attention to Stimuli During Intellectual Task.” 5th Joint Meeting Acoustical Society of America and Acoustical Society of Japan, December 1, Honolulu, Hawaii, Press release at http://acoustics.org/effects-of-meaningful-or-meaningless-noise-on-psychological-impression-for-annoyance-and-selective-attention-to-stimuli-during-intellectual-task-takahiro-tamesue/.
Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.