Irrelevant speech sound level effects on sustained attention with electrodermal and electroencephalogram monitoring

Irrelevant speech sound level effects on sustained attention with electrodermal and electroencephalogram monitoring | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Irrelevant speech sound level effects on sustained attention with electrodermal and electroencephalogram monitoring Yan Sheng, Ruining Zhang, Yao Fu, Rumei Han, Yuan Zhang This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8893391/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Speech is a dominant distractor in open-plan offices, yet quantitative evidence on sound-level effects using objective indicators remains limited. This study investigated how the sound pressure level of irrelevant speech influences sustained attention performance and psychophysiological responses in a simulated open-plan office. Twenty-four participants completed the Sustained Attention to Response Task under four acoustic conditions: a quiet control (35–40 dB(A)) and irrelevant speech presented at 40–45, 45–50, and 50–55 dB(A). Behavioural performance was characterised by correct rate, reaction capacity, and a composite performance index, while electrodermal activity and prefrontal electroencephalogram (EEG) were recorded (valid EEG n = 16). Linear mixed-effects models showed no significant main effect of speech level on mean behavioural outcomes, and reaction capacity did not exhibit a significant time-on-task by level interaction. In contrast, the relative change in skin conductance level differed significantly across conditions, with higher speech (50–55 dB(A)) producing greater arousal than lower speech (40–45 dB(A)) (planned contrast p = 0.014, dz = 0.54). Mean EEG task engagement did not differ significantly between sound levels. However, task engagement increased over time only under 50–55 dB(A) (p = 0.002), and the time-by-level interaction approached significance (p = 0.054). The findings suggest that within common open-plan office sound-level ranges, increasing irrelevant speech level may impose measurable physiological costs and increasing engagement demands even when sustained attention performance is maintained, supporting the need for acoustic control of speech levels in open-plan office design and management. Irrelevant speech Open-plan office Attention EDA EEG Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8893391","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":592165149,"identity":"f48bde0e-f45f-459b-a7b4-eff7d22baf47","order_by":0,"name":"Yan Sheng","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shenyang Jianzhu University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yan","middleName":"","lastName":"Sheng","suffix":""},{"id":592165151,"identity":"6b2689a1-e367-44e2-8508-ef872672ce4e","order_by":1,"name":"Ruining Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Tianjin University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ruining","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":592165152,"identity":"cc563985-a41c-47ab-8d3f-c856b7690d47","order_by":2,"name":"Yao Fu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shenyang Jianzhu University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yao","middleName":"","lastName":"Fu","suffix":""},{"id":592165153,"identity":"d5cacc8a-d6cd-4926-9337-d3097c8ad31f","order_by":3,"name":"Rumei Han","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shenyang Jianzhu University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rumei","middleName":"","lastName":"Han","suffix":""},{"id":592165154,"identity":"e4993783-444a-420b-a746-b18d4e302321","order_by":4,"name":"Yuan Zhang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA3ElEQVRIie3RrwvCQBTA8TcGtzK13hCdf4KyIuyf2YpX1GxQOcszidXmv7BofDK4ldmNWtYEq0HxZ95mE7xveI8H90kHoNP9Zuw5mgD03GZ54n1PQvk+SpA2WdnhspmI9SzJOIz8UFo7KiAgOos0GUREPQ6pCKU9DIqI4hVUgwhIcQPjUHK7XUAMdK6ohCu3yI1bKWKyegXHAVDMuCFLECdmrN5A6kSkzG6ghId2P59Uk3nmnHDquqvkuD+P/cbSSvNJK36tx+QEEMDnm/Jy5WtNAWqy6K1Op9P9a3fQm0eP1s6aaQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5219-7736","institution":"Shenyang Jianzhu University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-16 13:07:39","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":true,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true,"humanSubjectConsent":true,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8893391/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8893391/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eIrrelevant speech sound level effects on sustained attention with electrodermal and electroencephalogram monitoring\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[{"identity":"eaa2158f-b96a-47fc-8987-39a5843b5fa7","identifier":"10.13039/501100012131","name":"Department of Science and Technology of Liaoning Province","awardNumber":"2023JH2/101300027","order_by":0}],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Shenyang Jianzhu University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Irrelevant speech, Open-plan office, Attention, EDA, EEG","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8893391/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8893391/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSpeech is a dominant distractor in open-plan offices, yet quantitative evidence on sound-level effects using objective indicators remains limited. This study investigated how the sound pressure level of irrelevant speech influences sustained attention performance and psychophysiological responses in a simulated open-plan office. Twenty-four participants completed the Sustained Attention to Response Task under four acoustic conditions: a quiet control (35\u0026ndash;40 dB(A)) and irrelevant speech presented at 40\u0026ndash;45, 45\u0026ndash;50, and 50\u0026ndash;55 dB(A). Behavioural performance was characterised by correct rate, reaction capacity, and a composite performance index, while electrodermal activity and prefrontal electroencephalogram (EEG) were recorded (valid EEG n\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;16). Linear mixed-effects models showed no significant main effect of speech level on mean behavioural outcomes, and reaction capacity did not exhibit a significant time-on-task by level interaction. In contrast, the relative change in skin conductance level differed significantly across conditions, with higher speech (50\u0026ndash;55 dB(A)) producing greater arousal than lower speech (40\u0026ndash;45 dB(A)) (planned contrast p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.014, dz\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.54). Mean EEG task engagement did not differ significantly between sound levels. However, task engagement increased over time only under 50\u0026ndash;55 dB(A) (p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.002), and the time-by-level interaction approached significance (p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.054). The findings suggest that within common open-plan office sound-level ranges, increasing irrelevant speech level may impose measurable physiological costs and increasing engagement demands even when sustained attention performance is maintained, supporting the need for acoustic control of speech levels in open-plan office design and management.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Irrelevant speech sound level effects on sustained attention with electrodermal and electroencephalogram monitoring","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-18 10:10:58","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8893391/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"0215b4b3-6dad-4ad1-a322-44f7fd67d92a","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 18th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-02-18T10:10:58+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-18 10:10:58","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8893391","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8893391","identity":"rs-8893391","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}