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Environmental ergonomics deals with the effect of environmental factors on human health, comfort and performance. This day-to-day interaction of humans and their environment affects performance and productivity of workers in various industries. Heat, cold, noise, illumination, humidity, gases, and vibration are some of the significant factors that affect worker productivity. Out of all these, noise pollution and effect of noise on human productivity is becoming a major concern. This research is based on the study of the effect of various factors of noise on worker productivity and efficiency. The study was conducted on the occupational skill assessment test battery. This battery is basically used to test the rehabilitation and return to work capabilities of humans and helps in testing applicants for assembly work and various other jobs. The tests used in this research were: (1) Steadiness Tester, (2) Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test, (3) Hand Tool Dexterity Test, and (4) Two-Arm Coordination Test. Three different attributes of noise were used, namely noise intensity, noise type and noise source. Each factor was tested at two different levels. Thus, the experimental design chosen was with three factors at two levels. Continuous and intermittent noise types, single and multiple noise sources and 90 dBA and 110 dBA noise intensities were used. The performance measures that were analyzed were speed and error response. A 2 (intensity) x 2 (type) x 2 (source) analysis of variance was performed on the data. Eight participants were used to carry out the experiments. The results obtained showed that in the case of the steadiness tester, the speed response was mainly affected by the noise source. The error response was found to be affected by the noise source. There was no significant interaction between the three factors and hence they did not affect the speed or response errors. In the Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test, the speed response was mainly affected by the noise source. There were no interactions between the various factors. In the Two-Arm Coordination Test, the speed response was significantly affected by the noise source and noise intensity. However, the error response was found to be affected by the noise intensity. There were no significant interactions between the various factors. Hand Tool Dexterity Test results showed that all the factors were significant in affecting the speed response. The noise source, noise intensity, noise type, interaction between noise source and noise type, noise source and noise intensity and noise intensity and noise type and the interaction between noise source, noise type and noise intensity are all significant factors that affect the speed response in the Hand Tool Dexterity Test. Thus, there were significant interactions between various factors. A non-parametric test was conducted for the subjective response from the participants. The participants filled out questionnaires and a Pearson chi square test was performed on the responses. The three factors were found to be independent for all the four subjective responses.
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