Do realistic reverberation levels reduce auditory distraction?

Acoustically treated ceilings and wall panels can be used as part of a strategy to reduce the impact of background sound on the health and performance of employees by decreasing the reverberation times of the office noise. In this article we examine the impact of two reverberation times upon task performance. A cognitive task known to be a sensitive index of auditory distraction (serial recall) was used to assess the degree of distraction associated with two types of ceiling: a hard ceiling, such as plasterboard, and a soft ceiling, such as an acoustically treated ceiling. Office noise (in the range 65-75 dB (A)) was found generally to be disruptive relative to a quiet control condition but there was no difference in performance with regard to the ceiling types.