To test the effects of masked and unmasked office noise on arousal, stress and cognitive performance, each of three groups of 15 student volunteers was exposed to one of the following conditions: taped office noise (54 dbA with bursts to 60-66 dbA), the same noise masked by white noise at 59 dbA, and no extraneous noise. Findings confirmed predictions based on theories of arousal and disruptive stress. The no noise group performed best on a measure of cognitive complexity and felt the least disturbed and stressed by the environment. Masked noise subjects performed better than those in the unmasked condition on both complexity and a simple attention task; they felt more aroused but less disturbed or stressed by the environment. The findings are relevant to both theoretical and applied aspects of ambient noise.
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