Review

Author(s): Robert D. Sorkin

Review by: Robert D. Sorkin
Source: The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 101, No. 2 (Summer, 1988), pp. 290-293
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1422841
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290 BOOKREVIEWS
Hall, G. S. (1904). Adolescence:Its psychologyand its relations to physiology,anthropology,
sociology,sex, crime, religion, and education (Vols. 1 & 2). New York: Appleton.
Hamburger,V. (1957). The concept of developmentin biology. In D. B. Harris(Ed.),
Theconceptof development (pp. 49-58). Minneapolis:Universityof MinnesotaPress.
Harris, D. B. (Ed.). (1957). The conceptof development.Minneapolis:University of
MinnesotaPress.
Lerner, R. M. (1976). Conceptsand theoriesof human development.Reading, MA: Addison-
Wesley.
Lerner, R. M. (1984). On the nature of human plasticity.New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Lerner, R. M. (1986). Conceptsand theoriesof human development(2d ed.). New York:
Random House.
Lerner, R. M., & Kauffman,M. B. (1985). The concept of development in contex-
tualism. DevelopmentalReview, 5, 309-333.
Nesselroade,J. R., & Baltes, P. B. (Eds.). (1979). Longitudinalresearchin the studyof
behavior and development.New York: Academic Press.
Nesselroade, J. R., & von Eye, A. (Eds.). (1985). Individual developmentand social change:
Explanatory analysis. New York: Academic Press.
Piaget, J. (1950). Thepsychology
of intelligence.New York:Harcourt Brace.
Reese, H. W., & Overton, W. F. (1970). Models of development and theories of
development. In L. R. Goulet & P. B. Baltes (Eds.), Life-spandevelopmentalpsychology:
Researchand theory(pp. 116-145). New York:Academic Press.
Schneirla,T. C. (1957). The concept of development in comparativepsychology.In
D. B. Harris(Ed.),Theconceptof development(pp. 78-108). Minneapolis:University
of MinnesotaPress.
Tobach, E. (1981). Evolutionaryaspects of the activity of the organism and its de-
velopment. In R. M. Lerner & N. A. Busch-Rossnagel(Eds.),Individualsas pro-
ducers of their development:A life-span perspective(pp. 37-68). New York: Academic
Press.
London: Oxford University
von Bertalanffy,L. (1933). Moderntheoriesof development.
Press.
White, S. H. (1968). The learning-maturationcontroversy:Hall to Hull.Merrill-Palmer
Quarterly, 14, 187-196.

Noise and Human Efficiency

By Michel Loeb. D. H. Holding (Series Ed.), Wiley Series on Studies in
Human Performance. Chichester: Wiley, 1986. 269 pp. $51.95.
In this book, Michel Loeb reviews the present state of knowledge about the
effects of noise on performance. Dr. Loeb died prior to completion of the
book; a brief preface acknowledges the assistance of Dr. Ernest Weiler and
other colleagues and students in the work that was needed to ready the
manuscript for publication. Some chapters, such as those dealing with the
effects of noise on the efficiency of task performance, contain valuable dis-
cussions of the complex and sometimes inconsistent experimental data. Other
chapters, such as those concerned with the effects of noise on hearing, are
flawed by omissions. These problems are inevitable in the preparation of a
book covering such a broad subject. Undoubtedly, many of the problems
would have been remedied if Dr. Loeb's efforts had not been tragically cut
short.

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BOOK REVIEWS 291
The topics can be very roughly divided into three categories: Chapters
concerning (a) the nature of sound and the auditory system, (b) the auditory
effects of noise, and (c) nonauditory effects. The introductory chapters con-
sider basic aspects of the nature of sound and sound measurement, the
anatomy and physiology of the auditory system, and the psychophysics and
psychophysiology of hearing. The chapters dealing with the auditory effects
of noise are concerned with the ability to hear signals in noise and the
changes that noise exposure can produce in the auditory system. The chap-
ters dealing with nonauditory effects discuss possible physical changes such
as in blood pressure or pulse rate, or cognitive changes such as in attention
or memory. Obviously, there can be interactions between the auditory and
nonauditory categories; for example, the inability to communicate in a noisy
environment could produce nonauditory effects such as annoyance or stress.
A stated goal of the series is to provide books useful to practitioners in
diverse fields, such as industrial engineering and physical education, as well
as experimental psychology. It is likely that many of the book's readers will
not be familiar with the basic aspects of sound measurement. For that reason,
I would have preferred to see a formal definition of sound pressure level
and a more detailed discussion of sound level and sound intensity. In addition,
I think that it would have been valuable to include more discussion of sound
propagation (e.g., sound level measurement in enclosed spaces) and the sound
level of multiple sound sources. An analytical treatment of waveform dis-
tortion also would have been valuable. These topics can be covered at a
reasonably low level and are important to understanding the characteristics
of typical noise situations.
The second general topic area includes chapters dealing with the auditory
effects of noise, such as losses in hearing ability due to noise exposure. One
important chapter (4) deals with the masking effects of noise: the change in
the probability of detecting a stimulus because of the presence of another,
"masking" stimulus. The subject of masking is central to current theory in
psychoacoustics. Although the basic facts of masking are discussed in the
chapter, many masking phenomena are not mentioned, including suppression
effects, rippled noise, profile analysis, comodulation masking release, infor-
mational masking, and current theories of intensity discrimination and mask-
er interaction. Although these omissions are not critical to the main goals
of the book and the series, they limit the utility of the chapter as an up-to-
date treatment of auditory masking.
The chapter on masking has a significant problem. It lacks a presentation
of quantitative procedures for determining whether a specific nonspeech
signal will be audible in a specific noise background (computation of the
masked threshold). Although much of the data needed for these calculations
is included in the chapter, I suspect that the typical reader will not be able
to work out the calculations from the chapter discussion. This is unfortunate,
because the auditory masked threshold is one of the few areas in psychology
where reasonably accurate predictions about behavior can be made. Fur-
thermore, once one has calculated the level of signal needed to be just

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292 BOOK REVIEWS
audible in a noise, one can specify the (larger) signal levels needed for near-
perfect detectability or for rapid response to a signal in a noise environment.
Most noise sources are a complex mixture of many frequencies. If the
spectrum of the noise is reasonably constant over frequency, computation
of the masked threshold can be accomplished by performing some straight-
forward calculations. However, if the noise spectrum is not smooth, a more
complex procedure is required which involves finer specification of the
human's auditory filter. The auditory filter is a hypothetical filter that de-
scribes how the listener processes the different frequency components of
the signal and noise. If the power of the signal exceeds the power of the
noise coming through the filter, the signal will be audible. Thus, the char-
acteristics of the filter determine how effectively the noise will interfere with
the signal frequencies. Patterson, Nimmo-Smith, Weber, and Milroy (1982)
developed an approximation for the human auditory filter and described
procedures for estimating the masked threshold for different types of noise
spectra. Practical discussions of noise masking should include a description
of the results of Patterson and his colleagues.
A second problem in the masking chapter concerns the discussion of the
masking of speech by noise. There is no mention of the effects of noise on
synthetic speech or low bit-rate speech (speech which has been digitally
processed to compress its effective bandwidth). There are important issues
concerning the performance of systems that employ these types of speech
signals. For example, it may not be appropriate to use conventional measures
(such as the Articulation Index) to predict the intelligibility of digitally
processed speech. Furthermore, the effects of noise on synthetic (or low bit-
rate) speech may be subtle and occur only in certain kinds of cognitive tasks
(Luce, Feustal, & Pisoni, 1983).
Some other chapters have omissions or errors. In chapter 6, which deals
with subjective reactions to noise, several derived measures of noise and
perceived noisiness are considered. However, there is no discussion of event
exposure level, Lex, equivalent sound level, Leq, or the related measures,
Leq(24), Leq(8), Ld, Ln. The Leq measure is involved in the noise pollution index

(NPL) equation on page 132 but is not clearly defined. Another type of
problem can be observed in Figure 42 in chapter 4. This figure is supposed
to show the difference between the growth of loudness for a normal ear in
quiet and in noise. Almost no effect of adding noise can be seen in the
figure. Apparently, the wrong figure from the Hellman and Zwislocki (1964)
paper was substituted for the correct figure.
The chapters devoted to the nonauditory effects of noise on performance
are the most successful at meeting the book's goals. One important chapter
(9), "Noise and Task Efficiency," reviews the large literature covering the
variety of hypothesized nonauditory effects of noise, including effects on
intellectual function, memory, attention, arousal, and task performance in
industrial settings. This chapter is a discussion of a complex and sometimes
controversial subject. Loeb considers experiments that both support and
contradict the different hypothesized effects of noise. His position is that

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BOOK REVIEWS 293
"there are very many interacting factors and that the circumstances and
manner in which they interact are very complex and only partially known"
(p. 171). After reading the chapter, one realizes how small is the known
part. This is among the best of the chapters, and would justify purchase of
the book.
I am certain that most of the problems and omissions that I have identified
(and those I have missed) would have been remedied by Dr. Loeb, if the
normal process of manuscript preparation and review had not been inter-
rupted by his sudden death. It is interesting to note that the second edition
of Karl Kryter's authoritative book, The Effectsof Noise on Man, was published
during 1985, prior to the Loeb book. In spite of being published earlier,
Kryter's book is, in many respects, more up to date. The different emphases
of these two books can be seen in the fact that although Kryter's book is
almost three times longer overall, Loeb's chapter on noise and task efficiency
is much longer than the comparable chapter in Kryter. Both books have
their place in the libraries of those who would make sense of the large and
noisy literature on noise.
Robert D. Sorkin
Department of PsychologicalSciences
Purdue University
WestLafayette, IN 47907

References
Hellman, R. P., & Zwislocki,J. J. (1964). Loudnessfunction of a 1000-cpstone in the
presenceof a maskingnoise.JournaloftheAcoustical Society
ofAmerica, 36, 1618-1627.
Kryter,K. D. (1985). Theeffectsof noiseon man. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Luce, P. A., Feustal,T. C., & Pisoni, D. B. (1983). Capacitydemands in short-term
memory for synthetic and natural speech. HumanFactors,25, 17-32.
Patterson, R. D., Nimmo-Smith,I., Weber,D. L., & Milroy,R. (1982). The deterio-
ration of hearing with age: Frequencyselectivity,the criticalratio, the audiogram,
and speech threshold.Journalof theAcousticalSocietyof America,72, 1788-1803.

Practical Intelligence
Edited by RobertJ. Sternbergand RichardK. Wagner.New York:Cambridge
University Press, 1986. 386 pp. Cloth, $49.50. Paper,$15.95.
There are few concepts in psychology that have generated more debate
than that of intelligence, and there are few questions that have provoked
more controversy than that of how to assess it. The editors of Practical
Intelligencepromise neither to end the debate nor to resolve the controversy.
They believe, however, that the study of intelligence has recently shifted
focus from academic settings to the day-to-dayworld outside the classroom,
and the book is intended to provide a representativesamplingof the theory
and research that this refocused interest is fostering.
In my opinion the book succeeds rather well in conveying a sense of the
growing interest in what it means to be intellectually competent in non-
academicsettings. It challenges some old notions, raisessome new questions,

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