Chronic Noise Exposure During Development Does Not Affect Auditory Distraction Susceptibility in Adulthood: Baseline Working Memory Capacity Positively Correlates with Distractibility

Abstract

Working memory is vital to human cognition, providing us with the ability to temporarily hold and work with information. Deficits in working memory can manifest as attentional issues such as those present in cognitive disorders like ADHD. Higher working memory capacity (WMC) has previously been shown to be protective against the negative effects that auditory distractions can have on our cognition, meaning that the development of working memory has a direct effect on one’s susceptibility to auditory distractions in adulthood. This study specifically investigated how chronic noise exposure during the development of working memory affected one’s susceptibility to different kinds of auditory distractions in adulthood. College-aged participants who grew up in noisy city environments with consistent chronic noise exposure and quieter rural/suburban environments with less chronic noise exposure were recruited and completed an online auditory working memory complex span task with and without auditory distraction. Data analysis focused on participant distractibility in the form of worsened task performance when an auditory distractor was present. The findings showed no consistent significant differences in distractibility between those who grew up in the presence of more chronic noise exposure in cities and those who grew up in quieter environments. All participants, regardless of developmental environment, showed greater distractibility when less familiar, more artificial auditory distractors were present, hinting at a possible desensitization mechanism to familiar auditory distractors. In addition, higher baseline working memory capacity (WMC) was shown to be modestly correlated with increased susceptibility to auditory distractions, contrary to previous literature.