Curriculum
Neuroscience, Technology and Society, XXXVII series 
Grant sponsor
DPSS - Università degli Studi di Padova
Supervisor

Barbara Arfè
Co-Supervisor

Antonio Rodà

Project: Silence is golden: exploring the effects of background speech noise on verbal working memory and reading
Full text of the dissertation book can be downloaded from: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3552222

Abstract: Successfully completing cognitive tasks in noisy environments can be particularly challenging and may negatively affect academic success, even when the tasks do not directly involve processing auditory information. With increasing urbanization, background noise from traffic, construction, and daily activities has become an unavoidable presence, especially in densely populated cities. The universal and constant exposure to background noise, whether it is environmental (e.g., road and air traffic, construction) or verbal (e.g., intelligible or unintelligible speech noise), can undermine executive functioning, such as working memory and attention, or generate significant cognitive effort, leading to lower performance in complex cognitive tasks like reading. This issue is particularly critical for students, who are in the process of acquiring and developing essential skills crucial for both their academic success and overall cognitive development. In classroom settings, the presence of background noise, particularly speech, can significantly interfere with students’ ability to focus, process verbal instructions, and engage in activities effectively, ultimately compromising their comprehension and overall learning outcomes. The present thesis aims to explore the effects of background verbal noise on tasks involving verbal working memory, such as reading. Specifically, the first study evaluates the effects of unintelligible multi-talker babble noise on verbal working memory in primary school children. Using a range of verbal working memory tasks, including word recall and serial recall, and visual attention tasks, the study assesses if and how verbal noise affects performance in simple and more complex verbal working memory tasks, and whether domain-general visual attentional skills influence children’s working memory performance. Results showed that multi-talker babble noise significantly impairs performance only on complex verbal working memory tasks, suggesting that the complexity of the task amplifies the detrimental effects of background noise. The second study tested the effects of intelligible speech noise on college students’ reading, specifically examining how such noise influences the processing of idiomatic expressions presented in figurative and literal contexts. Using eye-tracking technology to record eye movements and reading times, the study aimed to explore whether and how intelligible speech noise, which competes for the same cognitive resources required for language processing, disrupts reading processing in expert readers. The study also examined how individual differences in verbal working memory capacity influenced readers’ performance in quiet and noise. The results revealed that intelligible speech noise does not significantly disrupt sentence reading time in general; however, it affected selectively the reading performance of participants with lower working memory capacity, indicating a differential effect of noise based on individual cognitive resources. Overall, this thesis highlights the detrimental impact of background verbal noise on cognitive tasks, emphasizing the essential role of working memory capacity in modulating these effects. The findings from both studies underscore the importance of creating optimal learning and working environments, particularly for children and students whose cognitive development and academic performance may be hindered by constant exposure to background noise.