Studies of Children under Imposed Noise and Heat Stress

Abstract

An assessment is made of moderate stress research as a field of study in itself, in which principles governing the choice of criteria of stress and strain are reviewed. The most important parameters of moderate stress research are identified and placed in the context of an empirical scheme, with reference to which their interpretation and relevance are discussed. Studies by the author of children under imposed heat stress are used to illustrate the scheme and are interpreted in terms of arousal and effort. An approach to the study of noise in the moderate stress region is suggested, in which measures based on sound pressure level are unlikely to have much relevance. This view is supported by preliminary results from a study of children under intermittent low-level noise.