Effect of Road and Railway Sound on Psychological and Physiological Responses in an Office Environment

The present study aims to explore the psychophysiological impact of different traffic sounds in office spaces. In this experiment, 30 subjects were recruited and exposed to different traffic sounds in a virtual reality (VR) office scene. The road traffic sound and three railway sounds (conventional train, high-speed train, and tram) with three sound levels (45, 55, and 65 dB) were used as the acoustic stimuli. Physiological responses, electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate (HR) were monitored throughout the experiment. Psychological evaluations under each acoustic stimulus were also measured using scales within the VR system. The results showed that both the psychological and the physiological responses were significantly affected by the traffic sounds. As for psychological responses, considerable adverse effects of traffic sounds were observed, which constantly increased with the increase in the sound level. The peak sound level was found to have a better performance than the equivalent sound level in the assessment of the psychological impact of traffic sounds. As for the physiological responses, significant effects of both the acoustic factors (sound type and sound level) and the non-acoustic factors (gender and exposure time) were observed. The relationship between sound level and physiological parameters varied among different sound groups. The variation in sound level hardly affected the participants’ HR and EDA when exposed to the conventional train and tram sounds. In contrast, HR and EDA were significantly affected by the levels of road traffic sound and high-speed train sound. Through a correlation analysis, a relatively weak correlation between the psychological evaluations and HR was found.

Meeting “My” Recipient

This chapter talks about the process of medical tests, information sessions, and psychological evaluations after Deb Porter Gill and the author matched with on all six HLA tissue type markers. The chapter displays the author's excitement to meet Deb, however, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rules preclude the hospital from disclosing a potential donor's name to an unrelated recipient. By fortunate coincidence, Deb was en route to spend a week in Kansas City when she read the author's Facebook message. They both agreed they should take advantage of this chance to meet in person. The chapter then narrates the conversation they had about writing and publishing, politics, child welfare, and everyone they knew in common.

Guiding Urban Facilities and Functions in Compact Mixed-Use Development from the Perspective of Residents

This article discusses the development of compact and functionally integrated urban environments from the perspective of local residents, focusing on their psychological evaluations of mixed land use and performance-based regulation. It demonstrates the significance of residents’ perceptions and attitudes in the achievement of flexibility required for urban planning in a shrinking society. To promote planned concentration of various functions in an urban area in an appropriate way, as in the development of compact cities in a multi-polar network advocated by the Location Normalization Plan, it will have more importance than ever to conceive planning that takes the characteristics of both a region and its residents into account.

Psychosocial characteristics of candidates for implantable pain devices: validation of an assessment model

Aim: To provide a detailed profile of Veteran and community patients with chronic pain who completed preprocedural psychological evaluations for implantable pain devices. Patients & methods: A total of 157 candidates completed a preimplantable pain device evaluation between June 2018 and October 2019 with a pain psychologist that included a structured interview, elicitation of patient-centered goals for the implantable device, and psychometric testing. Results: Candidates demonstrated moderate to high rates of sleep impairment (73%), depressive symptoms (62%), anxiety symptoms (61%), pain catastrophizing (37%), cognitive impairment screen (30%) and somatic symptoms (24%). Conclusion: Candidates for implantable pain devices report high rates of mood, sleep and cognitive impairment, reinforcing the value of preprocedural psychological evaluations.