Effects of Noise — IELTS Reading Answers

The writer suggests that people may have difficulty sleeping in the mountains because

1. Ahumans do not prefer peace and quiet to noise.
2. Bthey may be exposed to short bursts of very strange sounds.
3. Chumans prefer to hear a certain amount of noise while they sleep.
4. Dthey may have adapted to a higher noise level in the city.correct

“And yet most of us have had the experience of having to adjust to sleeping in the mountains or the countryside because it was initially 'too quiet', an experience that suggests that humans are capable of adapting to a wide range of noise levels”

People who find the countryside 'too quiet' have adapted to city noise, which option D describes; the passage says humans adapt to a wide range of levels.

In noise experiments, Glass and Singer found that

1. Aproblem-solving is much easier under quiet conditions.
2. Bphysiological arousal prevents the ability to work.
3. Cbursts of noise do not seriously disrupt problem-solving in the long term.correct
4. Dthe physiological arousal of control subjects declined quickly.

“The noise was quite disruptive at first, but after about four minutes the subjects were doing just as well on their tasks as control subjects who were not exposed to noise”

After four minutes subjects did 'just as well... as control subjects', so short bursts did not seriously disrupt problem-solving in the long term — C.

Researchers discovered that high noise levels are not likely to interfere with the

1. Asuccessful performance of a single task.correct
2. Btasks of pilots or air traffic controllers.
3. Cability to repeat numbers while tracking moving lines.
4. Dability to monitor three dials at once.

“Similarly, noise did not affect a subject's ability to track a moving line with a steering wheel, but it did interfere with the subject's ability to repeat numbers while tracking (Finkelman and Glass, 1970)”

Noise left a single tracking task unaffected but disrupted doing two things at once, so a single task is safe — option A.

“Probably the most significant finding from research on noise is that its predictability is more important than how loud it is. We are much more able to 'tune out' chronic background noise, even if it is quite loud, than to work under circumstances with unexpected intrusions of noise”

The summary needs the adjective for noise that cannot be predicted: 'unexpected intrusions of noise', so B.

“others heard the same amount of noise overall, but the bursts occurred at random intervals (unpredictable noise)”

The comparison group heard 'the same amount of noise overall', only at random intervals, so D fills the gap.

“Subjects reported finding the predictable and unpredictable noise equally annoying, and all subjects performed at about the same level during the noise portion of the experiment”

'All subjects performed at about the same level during the noise portion' is exactly option F's wording.

“As shown in Table 1 the unpredictable noise produced more errors in the later proofreading task than predictable noise; and soft, unpredictable noise actually produced slightly more errors on this task than the loud, predictable noise”

'Unpredictable noise produced more errors' than predictable noise, so the gap needs 'made more mistakes than' (I).

“Probably the most significant finding from research on noise is that its predictability is more important than how loud it is. We are much more able to 'tune out' chronic background noise, even if it is quite loud, than to work under circumstances with unexpected intrusions of noise”

The conclusion is that unpredictable, 'unexpected intrusions of noise' matter more than loudness, so B again fits.

Subjects exposed to noise find it difficult at first to concentrate on problem-solving tasks.

“For example, Glass and Singer (1972) exposed people to short bursts of very loud noise and then measured their ability to work out problems and their physiological reactions to the noise.”

Glass and Singer found noise 'quite disruptive at first', so this statement belongs to them (A).

Long-term exposure to noise can produce changes in behaviour which can still be observed a year later.

“A follow-up study showed that children who were moved to less noisy classrooms still showed greater distractibility one year later than students who had always been in the quiet schools (Cohen et al, 1981)”

Cohen et al. found children still 'showed greater distractibility one year later', which is the long-term behaviour change described, so D.

The problems associated with exposure to noise do not arise if the subject knows they can make it stop.

“If the individual knows that he or she can control the noise, this seems to eliminate both its negative effects at the time and its after-effects. This is true even if the individual never actually exercises his or her option to turn the noise off (Glass and Singer, 1972)”

Glass and Singer showed that knowing one 'can control the noise... eliminate[s] both its negative effects', so A.

Exposure to high-pitched noise results in more errors than exposure to low-pitched noise.

“Probably the most significant finding from research on noise is that its predictability is more important than how loud it is Predictability is not the only variable that reduces or eliminates the negative effects of noise. Another is control”

The passage compares predictability, loudness and control, but never high-pitched with low-pitched noise, so the answer is E, none of the above.

Subjects find it difficult to perform three tasks at the same time when exposed to noise.

“For example, high noise levels interfered with the performance of subjects who were required to monitor three dials at a time, a task not unlike that of an aeroplane pilot or an air-traffic controller (Broadbent, 1957)”

Broadbent found noise interfered with monitoring 'three dials at a time', so the three-task finding is his (B).

Noise affects a subject's capacity to repeat numbers while carrying out another task.

“Similarly, noise did not affect a subject's ability to track a moving line with a steering wheel, but it did interfere with the subject's ability to repeat numbers while tracking (Finkelman and Glass, 1970)”

Finkelman and Glass reported interference with repeating numbers while tracking, so C.