Effects of Natural Sounds on Attention Restoration in Noisy Environment

Nanyang Technological University162 enrolled

Overview

This study aims to examine whether listening to natural sounds in a noisy (traffic) environment compared to traffic noise only impacts behavioural, cognitive, affective, and physiological markers associated with attention restoration. Attention restoration will be examined as an aspect of cognitive fatigue.

Based on the Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan, 1995), we hypothesize that listening to natural sounds has restorative effects on attention by supporting greater use of involuntary attention. This generates the prediction that exposure to natural sounds in the context of a noisy environment will have greater restorative effects on attention (i.e., physiological, affect, cognition, and behaviour) as compared to the control group (exposed to noise only). Individual differences (i.e., age, gender, caffeine and food intake, body mass index, skin temperature, noise sensitivity, sleep quality, baseline physiology and behavioural performance) will be examined and accounted for. A cognitive task will be administered at the beginning of the experiment to induce fatigue to examine the restorative effects of natural sounds.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

162

Conditions

Cognitive Fatigue Mental Fatigue

Interventions

BaselineOTHER

5-min urban park video clip (Presented on a TV)

Fatigue ManipulationOTHER

20-min 2-back task (Presented on a computer)

Traffic SoundOTHER

Active Comparator: Traffic Sound (Played through speakers)

Traffic and Masking SoundOTHER

Experimental: Traffic and Masking Sound (Played through speakers)

SilenceOTHER

No Intervention: No sound (Played through speakers)