Continuous noise interferes with work by masking auditory feedback and inner speech.
Noise masks sounds, that is, it prevents people from being able to hear what they want to listen to. Noise arouses people and may make them feel annoyed. At night noise may arouse them from sleep, or keep them awake. Intermittent noise is distracting. It has been claimed that continuous broadband noise of 100 dB has a detrimental effect upon work which is distinct from the effects of noise in masking sound. Evidence is presented which indicates that the claim is not correct, and should never have been made.
Poulton
E C
EC
Medical Research Council, Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge.