Article
Modeling of the objective task performance and the subjectively perceived workload in a mental job executed in train noise and silence (en)
* Presenting author
Abstract:
For most employees dealing with mental tasks, mobile work is a common setting. Mobile work often takes place in environments that do not offer control of the soundscape. The additional workload stemming from ignoring such distracting environments can be sometimes perceived as annoying and potentially stressful. Noise is therefore identified as a serious workplace risk that needs to be addressed. We are interested in understanding the mental resources voluntarily invested to overcome the perceived burden stemming from distracting environments. For that purpose, we present the data from a laboratory study exposing 16 participants to the n-back and Stroop task. Participants completed the two tasks in silence and noise. Later was presented over headphones. The noise stimulus was a synthetically designed soundscape inspired by a high-speed train cabin including irrelevant speech, machine driving sounds, and other realistic sounds. Here, we present the statistical model predicting the task performance, regarding the individual noise sensitivity, the task-related executive function, and the subjectively perceived workload. This analysis allows the foundation of a follow-up study that twins the reported findings in a virtual reality (VR) setting. The comparison of the identified models in VR and the lab allows the validation of further investigations in VR.