BY MICAH SUNSHOWER KLATT
In this article three experiments were used to see whether background noise could be habituated to in a laboratory setting. In the first experiment the participants were to recall serially a list of words. Disruptions were speech and noise, just noise, and just speech. The speech took five conditions: continuous speech (for 20 minutes), repeating speech (one three minute section repeatedly), random speech (randomly selected words), quiet control (no distractions), and speech control (only during the memory tasks). Results concluded that background noise may be habituated to in 20 minutes. Also, meaning and repetition had no effect on habituation. In the second experiment, using only office equipment (ie. phones, fax, keyboards), it was found that noise without voices can also be habituated to. In the third experiment it was shown that placing a five minute section of silence after the noise will cause dishabituation to some effect, causing the listeners to once again become distracted by the noise.
This study examines the cognitive processes of memory and attention, and applies its results to the "open-office" workplace. Though the laboratory is not a perfect representation of the real-world office, with carefully designed and highly detailed experiments, it comes close enough to make parallel conclusions. Multiple studies cited by Banbury and Berry have shown background noise interference in the workplace to cause "discomfort, stress, lack of concentration, low levels of performance, and reduced efficiency." Possible suggestions to reduce distractions caused by background noises and voices are more sound-proof cubicles, ear-plugs, or a manufactured noise that drowns out other noises and makes habituation easier.
REFERENCE
Banbury, S. & Berry, D. C. (1997). Habituation and dishabituation to speech and office noise. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 3, 181-195