Noise exposure and cognitive performance: A study on personnel on board Royal Norwegian Navy vessels

Abstract

Prior research shows that work on board vessels of the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) is associated with noise exposure levels above recommended standards. Further, noise exposure has been found to impair cognitive performance in environmental, occupational, and experimental settings, although prior research in naval and maritime settings is sparse. The aim of this study was to evaluate cognitive performance after exposure to noise among personnel working on board vessels in the RNoN. Altogether 87 Navy personnel (80 men, 7 women; 31 ± 9 years) from 24 RNoN vessels were included. Noise exposure was recorded by personal noise dosimeters at a minimum of 4 h prior to testing, and categorized into 4 groups for the analysis: <72.6 dB(A), 72.6-77.0 dB(A), 77.1-85.2 dB(A), and >85.2 dB(A). The participants performed a visual attention test based on the Posner cue-target paradigm. Multivariable general linear model (GLM) analyses were performed to analyze whether noise exposure was associated with response time (RT) when adjusting for the covariates age, alertness, workload, noise exposure in test location, sleep the night before testing, use of hearing protection device (HPD), and percentage of errors. When adjusting for covariates, RT was significantly increased among personnel exposed to >85.2 dB(A) and 77.1-85.2 dB(A) compared to personnel exposed to <72.6 dB(A).

The Color-Word Stroop Task Does Not Differentiate Cognitive Inhibition Ability Among Esports Gamers of Varying Expertise

“…Here, we examined the performance on a well-known and widely utilized cognitive inhibition task among a homogeneous group of gamers of the FPS game CS:GO and compared their performance to a non-gaming sample. The apparent importance of cognitive inhibition for CS:GO and first-person shooter games in general may be tied to the importance of this cognitive skill for military personnel (Irgens-Hansen et al, 2015;Makhani et al, 2015). The scenario where distinguishing between friend and foe and deciding quickly and accurately whether to engage a target occurs regularly during CS:GO matches and often has a significant consequence to the outcome of a match.…”

Noise levels in veterinary operating rooms and factors that contribute to their variations

“…The influence of music on performance remains controversial, with some studies reporting a beneficial effect on performance in the OR, 12,14,[16][17][18] whereas others have found that music is harmful to the surgeons' focus, which could increase complication rates. 2,3,[5][6][7]15 The benefits or adverse effects of music within our OR was not assessed in our study.…”

“…10,23 In human medicine, loud OR have been associated with increased stress levels of OR staff, which can affect performance and concentration and thereby increase the risk of surgical complications. 2,[5][6][7]15,24 A study by Engelmann et al 15 identified a correlation between endogenous cortisol levels of surgeons during surgical procedures and noise levels in the OR by comparing these levels before and after a noise reduction program was instituted. Elevations in OR noise during surgery has also been found to correlate with the incidence of surgical site infections in man.…”

“…However, LA max values did not differ between services (P 5 .0563). No correlations in decibel levels were identified with the OR, number of people present in the OR (range, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], or number of people scrubbed in for the procedure (range, 2-7).…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] The medical field has documented elevated noise levels in human OR and the implications that these sound levels could have, such as effects on personnel communication, surgeon focus, physiological effects on the surgeon, and incidence of complications and surgical site infections. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] These noises and sounds come from a variety of sources, including anesthetic monitoring equipment, OR equipment, communications among hospital staff and personnel, prolonged reverberation times within OR (the prolongation of noise due to sound waves reflecting off of hard surfaces), and music playing in the OR. 3,5,9,10,19,20 The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that noise levels within a workplace (which includes OR) do not exceed 55 decibels.…”