Human talking noise is a primary contributor to reduced acoustic quality in open workspace environments, largely due to its intermittent nature and the semantic content it conveys. While previous studies have proposed artificial masking sounds such as white noise, water noise, or music to elevate background noise levels and reduce the signal-to-noise ratio, thereby mitigating the impact of conversational noise on the perceived acoustic environment and cognitive performance, this study adopts a similar strategy by increasing steady background noise in the form of road traffic noise, which was typically introduced passively through open windows under natural ventilation conditions. Relatively steady road traffic noise levels, ranging from 50 to 70 dBA Leq in 5 dBA intervals, were used to mask irrelevant human talking noise, which was presented as a monologue at 60 dBA Leq. Hierarchical and repeated-measures statistical methods were applied to account for both within- and between-participant variability. A mixed-method approach was also employed, incorporating qualitative data to support and triangulate the quantitative findings. Evaluated parameters included the perceived acoustic comfort, mood and fatigue, short cognitive performance tasks, and heart rate.
Antanuri et al. (Wed,) studied this question.