- Data collection collaborations
Noise, Cognitive Function, and Worker Productivity
Joshua T. Dean
- February 25, 2020
- 7:52 pm
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BEHAVIORAL THEME
OVERVIEW
I investigate the relationship between noise and worker productivity with two experiments in Kenya. I first randomize exposure to engine noise during a textile training course at a government training facility. An increase of 10 dB reduces productivity by approximately 5%. In order to study what mechanism drives this effect, I then
randomize engine noise during tests of cognitive function and placebo effort task. The same noise change impairs cognitive function but not effort task performance. This illustrates how environments associated with poverty can affect economic outcomes by impairing cognitive function. Finally, in both experiments, I examine whether individuals appreciate the impact of noise on their performance by eliciting participants’ willingness to pay for quiet working conditions while randomly varying whether they are compensated based on their performance. Individuals’ willingness to pay does not depend on the wage structure; suggesting that they are not aware that quiet working conditions would increase their performance pay. This cautions against the ability of workers to appropriately adapt to the impacts of noise and suggests dealing with environmental cognitive impediments may require policy intervention.
THEMATIC AREAS
While noise is ubiquitous in the modern world, in low and middle income settings exposure can reach egregious levels. In factories, workers can experience jet-engine-level noise daily (Nandi and Dhatrak 2008; Kimani 2011). On streets, it is common for honking and shouting to fill the air. In India, this cacophony is so great that car manufactures have begun to increase the volume of their horns (Sen Gupta 2014). Cognitive science research suggests that this exposure might reduce productivity by impairing task management skills like attention and working memory (Szalma and Hancock 2011; Matthews et al. 2000b; Jones and Broadbent 1991). While it seems intuitive that inhibiting these cognitive functions should make individuals less productive, limited causal evidence demonstrates or quantifies their importance for productivity. Without this link, assessing the economic implications of excessive noise exposure is difficult.