PhD Defense - Nicolas F. PONCETTI

Noise annoyance in open-plan offices and occupant fatigue: a study on the influence of age-related hearing loss

Open-plan offices are common in the tertiary sector, yet occupants often complain about noise, particularly from co-worker conversations. This issue can differently affect normal hearing people and those with presbycusis. This study examines the impact of mild hearing loss (early-stage presbycusis) on performance, fatigue, and perceived workload, with a focus on the effect of irrelevant speech. An analysis of the decrease in performance on a serial recall task as a function of the intelligibility level of irrelevent speech was conducted with young, normal-hearing subjects under two auditory conditions: with and without a hearing loss simulator, as well as with hearing-impaired elderly subjects. Participants were exposed to five noise conditions and silence. Subjective intelligibility was also measured. The results showed a minor, non-significant difference in decrease of performance between normalhearing and hearing-impaired participants. The hearing loss simulator produced results comparable to those of the older group, validating its efficacy. A second experiment involving prolonged noise exposure was conducted to examine factors such as fatigue and workload, which are challenging to evaluate in shorter experiments like the first one. In this experiment, a working day was simulated in an open-plan office, where participants performed clerical tasks while exposed to irrelevant speech. The results indicate that the intelligibility of the noise does not appear to significantly impact perceived fatigue and workload. Again, no notable differences were observed between the two groups studied.

Membres du jury :
- Patrick CHEVRET, Chercheur HDR chez INRS, Examinateur ;
- Arianna ASTOLFI, Professeur à la Politecnico di Torino, Rapporteure ;
- Joël DUCOURNEAU, Professeur à l'Université de Lorraine, Rapporteur ;
- Helga SUKOWSKI, Chercheuse chez BAuA, Examinatrice ;
- Étienne PARIZET, Professeur à l'INSA Lyon, Directeur de thèse.