The effects of road traffic noise on mental performance

Background: noise is one of the more widespread pollutions of road transportation system, which can causedeterioration in performance. this experimental study was designed to assess the effect of road traffic noise onperformance with regard to extra/introversion and sex of participants. the personality trait of extra/introversion hasbeen remarked as relevant factor to mental performance.results: thirty six (26 males and 10 females) medical sciences students of tehran university participated in thestudy. the students were placed in an unechoing room and performed the cognitrone test from vienna testsystem in quiet condition and under road traffic noise (71 dba). the results of this study pointed out that noiseincreased the percentage of sum of correct answers but had no effect on the speed of performance. furthermorethis study showed that performance was enhanced in extroverts (p=0.001) but no significant difference was foundin introverts (p ?0.05).conclusions: the regression analysis revealed that extra/introversion was more important than sex to predict theperformance parameters.