International archives of occupational and environmental health
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Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1992
Effects of noise on mental performance with regard to subjective noise sensitivity.
Objective and subjective effects of moderate levels of recorded traffic noise [Leq = 55 dB(A) and 75 dB(A)] on mental performance were studied in a laboratory setting. A total of 45 subjects (23 males and 22 females) were investigated with respect to subjective noise sensitivity (SNS). Four cognitive tasks were applied involving different psychological functions: Short-Term Memory (STM), Search and Memory 5 (SAM 5) (vigilance), Hidden Figures (HF) (spatial reasoning) and Mental Arithmetic (MA) (parallel processing). ⋯ SNS was the primary factor responsible for these differences. There were no significant differences between the groups in respect of the SAM 5 and HF tasks, under either quiet or noisy conditions. Annoyance while performing tasks under noisy conditions was regularly and significantly higher among subjects judged to be noise sensitive on Weinstein's scale, as compared with those judged to have low or moderate SNS.
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Int Arch Occup Environ Health · Jan 1992
Investigations on health hazards of chimney sweeps in Germany: results of a follow-up study.
Within the framework of a longitudinal study, 127 chimney sweeps from the area of Upper and Middle Franconia (Bavaria, Germany), who had participated in a first medical check-up in 1974, were offered follow-up examinations in 1990. Eighty-one subjects participated in these examinations; in addition individual occupational case histories and medical case histories were obtained for a further 15 and 35 chimney sweeps, respectively. Five test subjects had died before the evaluation deadline (August 15, 1990). ⋯ Taking into account important non-occupational hazards (alcohol and nicotine abuse) as possible causes of these changes and the lack of relevant occupational exposure to products of incineration over a number of years, none of these cases nor any of the other ascertained results could be considered likely to be causally related to occupational activities. Due to the small number of cases, an epidemiological risk evaluation did not seem useful. Comparison with the results of other chimney sweep studies published in the international literature is not helpful due to the differences in study design, the varying case frequencies, and the different conditions of exposure.