NCEIV25 0-0723

Question 1

Lesson 25

Answer 1

Lesson 25 Non-auditory effects of noise

Question 2

May people in i

Answer 2

May people in industry and the Services, who have practical experience of noise, regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time;

Question 3

they are not pr

Answer 3

they are not prepared even to admit the possibility that noise affects people.

Question 4

On the other ha

Answer 4

On the other hand, those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society.

Question 5

This is a pity,

Answer 5

This is a pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause, and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with had science.

Question 6

One allegation

Answer 6

One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness.

Question 7

A recent articl

Answer 7

A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance, was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress, with the caption ‘She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck’.

Question 8

On turning eage

Answer 8

On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital.

Question 9

Now the snag in

Answer 9

Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course that one merely a symptom?

Question 10

Another patient

Answer 10

Another patient might equally well complain that her neighbors were combining to slander her and persecute her, and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement.

Question 11

What is needed

Answer 11

What is needed in case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions, to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are.

Question 12

Some time ago t

Answer 12

Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance, examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: the study was known as Project Anehin.

Question 13

It can be unple

Answer 13

It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome;

Question 14

if you think wh

Answer 14

if you think what it must be like to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft, you will realize that a modern navy is a good place to study noise.

Question 15

But neither psy

Answer 15

But neither psychiatric interviews nor objective tests were able to show any effects upon these American sailors.

Question 16

This result mer

Answer 16

This result merely confirms earlier American and British studies: if there is any effect of noise upon mental health, it must be so small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it.

Question 17

That does not p

Answer 17

That does not prove that it does exist: but it does mean that noise is less dangerous than, say, being brought up in an orphanage – which really is mental health hazard.