Effects of noise exposure and task demand on cardiovascular function

Abstract

Cardiovascular effects under various noise-exposure and task-demand conditions were studied among 40 senior highschool students. The subjects consisted of 20 males and 20 females with a mean age of 16.7 +/- 0.7 years. All subjects had equivalent abacus performance ratings. Each subject was tested with a random sequence of six sessions. The time limit set for each session was 33 min. Six experimental sessions were constructed by a random combination of noise exposure (60, 85 or 90 dB (A] white noise) and task demand (task presence or task absence) variables. Blood pressure measures were taken at the beginning and ending phases of each session. A task-demand variable was defined as a conjoint of mental arithmetic (3 min) and abacus arithmetic (30 min). The results from the present study show that the effect of noise exposure on task performance is remarkable. Only noise exposure tended to influence the performance of male students in abacus arithmetic. The effect of task demand on blood pressure was higher than that of noise exposure. No interaction effect (noise exposure x task demand) on blood pressure, was found via analyses of within-subjects two-way ANOVA.