Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-21

OF the city women Is found to be greatly in
ferior to that OF their country cousins.
All Of this difference. Of course, cannot rsa-
sonably be due solely to the country places
being vastly quieter. The noise. or its absence.
could be logically suspected of having its effect
in view OF what Is known about the fear reac-
ton precipitated by noise, but there are also
significant matters such as diet, sunshine and
exercise which help account for the difference.
A crucial test Of the bearing Of the fear
reaction caused by noise Is under way In the
Colgate Psychological Laboratory. 1t has been
verified that rats kept under laboratory manu-
featured noise of average city intensity and
composition eat less and grow less than their
brothers and sisters kept in relative quiet
The food, air, sunshine and other factors are
the same for both groups Of rats: noise is the
only significant factor that varies. yet the rats
kept away from the noise are growing faster,
are more lively and playful. have more fights
among themselves as an evidence Of excess
vitality, and are more friendly with the expert
mentors. These remarkable differences brought
about by noise are verified in spite of the fact
that compared with human beings the white
rat is slightly deafer!
ORDINARY office noise slows up typists
~ about per cent according to the most
careful observations. There Is one series OF
records recently published which would indicate
that noise stimulated typists to o little greater
speed but these records were invalidated when
1t was discovered also that there were many
visitors in the quiet room while the noisy
tipping room had scarcely any visitors. At FIRST
however 1t seemed that It was the noise which
caused the greater speed. while second thought
revealed that 1t was the large number Of visitors
which cut down the speed In the quieter room
OF course speed is not the sole aim even in
ONCE machinery wear and tear IS considered
as wen as speed. Some evidence Of the wear
and tear on oface workers due to noise is
indicated by typists burning up 10 per cent
more bodily energy when working In noisy
room than in q quiet room.
Most of this wear and tear Is not directly
due to using the fingers on the keyboard. but to
all muscles Of the body being slightly tensed In
also in the laboratory rats.
The most marked effect Of noise appears In
the higher mental processes. such as the
executive thinks he uses These are retarded
by about 30 per cent on the average. although
averages in the higher mental processes are
difficult to strike.
There are always small number of people,
however, who assert that they can work better
under noise in spite of the wide array of
To the psychologist their opinion does not
indicate that noise serves as a necessary
stimulus, but that most of us have certain
working habits to which We are enSlaved. and
that when one element IN the total working
situation is altered for the better 1t Is difficult
to make an immediate adjustment in our
working habits
TEN per cent of the people of the world, at
most, are responsible for 90 per cent Of the
worlds noise. In America we have the spec
tacle, for instance. Of one night owl truck driver
making mope noise In q city block than all the
residents combined. But this is not matter
Of our machine civilization alone.
In Picking everything almost Is sold by
barkers on the streets. Whether it is day 4:
night makes no difference. there are still
hawkers out noisily selling shavcs or shirts.
Old Moscow did not have back-firing, SIREN
equipped motor trucks, but 1t did have cobbe-
stone pavements and Steel-tred vehicles that
produce fair amount of racket