Anxiety as a Function of Environmental Noise and Social Interaction

Abstract

In a study to investigate environmental noise and social interaction as simultaneous stressors affecting anxiety, three independent groups of college students (N = 48 men and women) participated in the simulation game Starpower while exposed to different levels of background noise. Intermittent white noise at 61 dB(A) and 75 dB(A) was used for the Noisy and Very Noisy conditions, respectively, and the ambient noise level of 51 dB(A) was used for Quiet. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, administered before and after playing the game, was used as a direct, subjective measure of anxiety. Relatively low levels of noise superimposed on the stress of social interaction influenced the level of anxiety experienced by the Ss. Groups subjected to noisier environments reported significantly stronger feelings of anxiety than those in quieter conditions (p less than .05). Ss' eyeblink rate, used as an indirect, physiological indicator of anxiety, was not significantly affected by the stress levels produced in this experiment.