Stress is a generalized physiological response to environmental stressors. Of the hormone-triggered changes associated with the stress response, circulatory alterations were of particular interest to this research because they can reduce the blood supply to the inner ear and result in hearing decrements. / Because noise is an effective stressor, its effects on the body can be studied from that perspective. The "noise as a stressor" point of view was used in this research to answer the following question: Is a person's typical response to environmental stressors associated with his or her susceptibility to noise-induced hearing loss? / In order to answer this question, subjects were classified as either Type A or Type B on the Jenkins Activity Survey because it has been shown that Type A's exhibit stronger stress responses than do Type B's. Both types of subjects were exposed to a series of experimental conditions that were designed to differ in stressor magnitude. The stressors consisted of combinations of predictable or unpredictable 105 dB SPL noise bursts and a timed word task, designed to be a psychological stressor. / The hypotheses that predicted that Type A subjects who were exposed to unpredictable noise and had the word task to do would report more perceived stress and sustain more temporary hearing loss were not confirmed. However, the hypothesis predicting a relationship between degree of perceived stress and degree of temporary hearing loss was confirmed. Exploratory analyses, which went beyond the hypotheses, strongly suggested that the order of presentation of different noise conditions, and whether or not they were paired with a quiet session are important factors in the determination of both perceived stress and temporary hearing loss. This last finding has significant implications for the research design of future noise exposure studies. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: B, page: 2105. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75153 |
| Contributors | ALBRECHT, JUDITH LYNN., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 154 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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