Self-Assessment Exercise: Exploring Environmental Noise and Concentration
Introduction
The auditory system interprets and perceives sounds in our surroundings. Energy waves propagate across a medium and cause particle motion inside it to generate sounds. Particle motion causes localized air pressure variations or periodic compression and rarefaction. After entering the outer ear, sound waves pass via the exterior acoustic meatus and arrive at the tympanic membrane, often called the eardrum. The middle ear’s incus, stapes, malleus, and tiny bones vibrate as the tympanic membrane moves in response to sound waves. The basilar membrane vibrates and is topped by rows of tiny sensory hair cells called stereocilia (Del Maschio & Abutalebi, 2019). These cells have bundles of tiny structures that resemble hair on top. The hairs flex in opposition to the tectorial membrane, an overlaying structure, as the membrane rises and falls. Ions from outside fluid flow into the hairs via tiny pores opened by this stretching, transforming the sensation of movement into an electrochemical stimulus. When hair cells are stimulated, they transmit electrical impulses to the brainstem via the acoustic nerve. After the auditory cortex, the thalamus is the last sensory node (Radun et al., 2021). The thalamus acts as an interface for the sensory data that arrives in the brain from outside sources; it is situated slightly higher than the brainstem. The data then makes its way to the area of the brain responsible for hearing. By combining data from both ears, the thalamus and brainstem can determine a sound’s origin and trajectory. The principal auditory cortex preserves the harmonic pattern produced by the hair cells by using auditory neurons that react to distinct pitches. Not all cortical neurons react to all noises; some are preferential for complex sounds, whereas others react according to length, magnitude, or frequency changes.
Hypothesis
Concentration and mental acuity may be negatively impacted by ambient noise.
Data Analysis
Comparing the baseline results to the introduction of background noise, there was an increase in the time taken to solve the exact puzzle. The increase in time from 10 minutes to 15 minutes indicated a 50% decrease in concentration, which aligns with most of the research on the impact of noise on concentration. Studies show that the wellness of an individual is affected by their physical surroundings in several ways. Cognitive thinking, mental wellness, and the desire to finish jobs or tasks may all be impacted by noise (Radun et al., 2021). Noise also hinders non-auditory abilities, including rote memorization and retaining information quickly. This impairment might be due to a broader mechanism involving attention or to disruption of the particular visual and cognitive mechanisms engaged in the focused activity, depending on the activities and noises. In this activity, the music disrupts the focus, decreasing the time used to solve the puzzle.
Conclusion and Reflection
This activity solved a sliding puzzle that involved organizing numbered tiles in a secret, quiet room behind the closet. I started the stopwatch and immediately started arranging the tiles; it took ten minutes to arrange them. I repeated solving the same puzzle while in the same quiet room but introduced a background noise produced by music playing on the phone. While maintaining the volume of the music playing, I took 15 minutes, which is five minutes more, to complete the same puzzle. When the background noise was introduced, it was harder to think of the next move quickly, often attempting some wrong moves only to repeat them. The solving speed decreased due to the distraction caused by the song, with the mind occasionally switching from the puzzle. There was also the tendency to forget some moves, which required more concentration. The self-assessment showed reduced focus, while the stopwatch helped measure the time to complete the same task.
References
Del Maschio, N., & Abutalebi, J. (2019). Language organization in the bilingual and multilingual brain. The handbook of the neuroscience of multilingualism, 197-213. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119387725.ch9
Radun, J., Maula, H., Rajala, V., Scheinin, M., & Hongisto, V. (2021). Speech is special: The stress effects of speech, noise, and silence during tasks requiring concentration. Indoor air, 31(1), 264-274. https://doi.org/10.1111/ina.12733
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