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Abstract
Eight institutionalized people with learning disability (mental handicap) took part in a study which investigated the effects of environmental noise on the rates at which they performed stereotypic behaviours. Observational data were collected in Experiment 1 using a momentary time-sampling procedure. The results of this experiment suggested no significant relationship between levels of environmental noise and rates of stereotypic behaviour throughout a 9-hour day. Experiment 2 used 7 subjects in single-subject, alternating-treatment designs to investigate whether or not rates of stereotypic behaviour could be experimentally varied by manipulating noise levels in a controlled experimental situation. The results suggested that environmental noise has definite, though complex, influences on rates of stereotyped behaviour displayed by people with severe and profound learning disabilities.