Psychological Effects of Prolonged Exposure to Sonar Signals at an Elevated Intensity. II. Twenty-four Days'Exposure to Signals at 85dB.

摘要

Ten carefully screened male subjects, 5civilian men from the New London community and 5Navy sonarmen were secluded in the Audiology spaces of the Submarine Medical Research Laboratory for a total of 30days, 4pre-experimental (no beep), 24days'exposure to the 85dB 'beep'and 2recovery days. Administered daily,the test battery consisted of a sequential reaction time test, a hand-eye coordination test, a measure of muscular tension and 4measures of mood and affect. Although in 8of the ten men some depressive trends occurred in the first 3days of the exposure period,the performance depressive trends the performance data demonstrated no evidence of significance impairment. Similarly,while 3men reported mild re-occurring headaches,and 5indicated the 'beep'may have affected their sleep as well as their performance on certain testing procedures,the overall adjustment of the 8men did not appear to be impaired allowing 1/2 - 3days for adaptation. (Author)