A review of research on how noise affects people. We adapt quickly to loud noise on simple tasks, but it hurts performance when we juggle several tasks. Unpredictable noise causes more delayed fatigue than loud noise, a sense of control removes the harm, and long-term noise near an airport left children more distractible for years.
The multiple choice (27-29) covers the first two paragraphs in order. The summary (30-34) is about the Glass and Singer experiment in the third and fourth paragraphs. The researcher matching (35-40) jumps around the whole passage.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the passage yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: The first question needs a small inference from the 'too quiet' experience: people adapt to the noise level they're used to. The second tests the four-minute recovery, and the third is the flip side of the dual-task findings.
Question 27
Answer: DParagraph 1, second sentence
Why might people struggle to sleep in the mountains, according to the writer?
most of us have had the experience of having to adjust to sleeping in the mountains or the countryside because it was initially 'too quiet', an experience that suggests that humans are capable of adapting to a wide range of noise levels
Question says → Passage says
have difficulty sleepinghaving to adjust to sleeping
adapted to a higher noise levelcapable of adapting to a wide range of noise levels
Why: If a quiet place feels 'too quiet', you must be used to more noise somewhere else. The writer uses this as evidence that people adapt to the noise level around them. D.
The trap: C (people prefer some noise while they sleep) sounds close, but the writer's point is adaptation, not preference. A contradicts the first sentence, which says we probably do prefer quiet.
Question 28
Answer: CParagraph 1, last two sentences
What did Glass and Singer find about noise and problem-solving?
The noise was quite disruptive at first, but after about four minutes the subjects were doing just as well on their tasks as control subjects who were not exposed to noise.
Question says → Passage says
do not seriously disrupt problem-solving in the long termafter about four minutes the subjects were doing just as well
bursts of noiseshort bursts of very loud noise
Why: The noise disrupted people only at first. After four minutes they matched the quiet group, so the disruption wasn't lasting. C.
The trap: D picks up 'declined quickly', but it was the noise group's arousal that dropped to the control subjects' level, not the control group's own arousal. A ignores the recovery after four minutes.
Question 29
Answer: AParagraph 2
What kind of task is loud noise unlikely to affect?
loud noise becomes more troublesome if the person is required to concentrate on more than one task… noise did not affect a subject's ability to track a moving line with a steering wheel
Question says → Passage says
not likely to interfere withdid not affect
successful performance of a single tasktrack a moving line with a steering wheel
Why: Noise causes trouble when people do more than one thing. On its own, tracking a line was unaffected. So a single task is fine: A.
The trap: C is the reverse: repeating numbers while tracking is exactly the task noise did disrupt. B and D (pilots, three dials) are also examples of noise causing problems.
Summary completion (word list A-J)
Questions 30-34
How to attack this block: Letters can repeat, and one does. The summary splits the experiment into two parts: during the noise (same amount of noise, same performance) and afterwards (more proofreading errors after unpredictable noise). Don't let 'showed more irritation' tempt you: subjects found both kinds equally annoying.
Question 30
Answer: BParagraph 3, first two sentences
What kind of noise affects performance more than intense noise?
its predictability is more important than how loud it is. We are much more able to 'tune out' chronic background noise, even if it is quite loud, than to work under circumstances with unexpected intrusions of noise.
Question says → Passage says
have less effect on performance thanmuch more able to 'tune out'… than to work under
circumstances in which… noise occurscircumstances with unexpected intrusions of noise
Why: Loud but steady noise is easier to work with than unexpected noise. The gap is an adjective before 'noise', and the passage's own word is 'unexpected', B.
The trap: A (no control over) is another factor that matters, but it's discussed later, in Paragraph 5. This sentence is about predictability.
Question 31
Answer: DParagraph 3, fourth sentence
What did all the groups have in common in terms of noise?
others heard the same amount of noise overall, but the bursts occurred at random intervals
Question says → Passage says
All groups were exposed toheard the same amount of noise overall
Why: The random-burst group heard the same total amount of noise as the regular group; only the timing differed. D.
The trap: J (different types of) is tempting because there were loud, soft, regular and random conditions. But the summary says 'all groups', and what they shared was the amount.
Question 32
Answer: FParagraph 3, sixth sentence
How did the predictable group compare with the unpredictable group during the noise?
all subjects performed at about the same level during the noise portion of the experiment
Question says → Passage says
on this taskduring the noise portion of the experiment
Why: During the noise, everyone performed about equally. F copies the passage's phrase almost exactly.
The trap: E (performed better than) is what most people expect, since predictable noise is easier. That difference only showed up later, in the proofreading.
Question 33
Answer: IParagraph 3, last sentence
How did the unpredictable group do on proofreading compared with the predictable group?
the unpredictable noise produced more errors in the later proofreading task than predictable noise
Question says → Passage says
The group which had been exposed to unpredictable noisethe unpredictable noise
made more mistakes thanproduced more errors… than
Why: More errors = more mistakes. The table backs this up: 38.4 errors on average after unpredictable noise against 29.6 after predictable. I.
The trap: H (showed more irritation) is a trap: subjects found both kinds of noise equally annoying.
Question 34
Answer: BParagraph 4
What kind of noise causes fatigue that shows up later?
Apparently, unpredictable noise produces more fatigue than predictable noise, but it takes a while for this fatigue to take its toll on performance.
Question says → Passage says
produces fatigueproduces more fatigue
this manifests itself laterit takes a while for this fatigue to take its toll
Why: Unpredictable noise is the culprit, and B, 'unexpected', is the word-list version of it. Letters can repeat, so B is used twice.
The trap: C (intense) seems logical, but the results show soft unpredictable noise caused more errors than loud predictable noise. Loudness isn't the cause.
Matching statements to researchers (A-E)
Questions 35-40
How to attack this block: Each researcher is named in brackets after their finding, so scan for the brackets. Glass and Singer answer twice. One statement is about pitch, which the passage never mentions, so the answer is 'None of the above'.
Question 35
Answer: AParagraph 1, last three sentences
Who found that noise makes problem-solving hard at first?
Glass and Singer (1972) exposed people to short bursts of very loud noise and then measured their ability to work out problems… The noise was quite disruptive at first
Question says → Passage says
Subjects exposed to noiseexposed people to short bursts of very loud noise
find it difficult at firstquite disruptive at first
problem-solving taskstheir ability to work out problems
Why: Glass and Singer measured problem-solving under noise and found it disruptive at first, before people adapted. A.
The trap: Broadbent (B) also found noise interfering with work, but only with multiple tasks, and nothing about 'at first'.
Question 36
Answer: DParagraph 6, near the end
Who found that long-term noise causes behaviour changes still visible a year later?
A follow-up study showed that children who were moved to less noisy classrooms still showed greater distractibility one year later than students who had always been in the quiet schools (Cohen et al., 1981).
Question says → Passage says
Long-term exposure to noiseliving day after day with chronic noise
changes in behaviourgreater distractibility
a year laterone year later
Why: The airport-school children stayed more distractible a year after moving. Distractibility is behaviour. Cohen et al., D.
The trap: Glass and Singer studied after-effects too, but only short ones in a single session. The passage calls their effects 'transient'.
Question 37
Answer: AParagraph 5
Who found noise does no harm if people know they can turn it off?
If the individual knows that he or she can control the noise, this seems to eliminate both its negative effects at the time and its after-effects.
Question says → Passage says
knows they can make it stopknows that he or she can control the noise / option to turn the noise off
do not ariseeliminate both its negative effects
Why: The control finding is credited to Glass and Singer (1972) in brackets at the end of the next sentence. A again.
The trap: Because Glass and Singer were already used in Question 35, people look for someone else. Letters can repeat.
Question 38
Answer: EParagraph 3
Who found high-pitched noise causes more errors than low-pitched noise?
some subjects heard loud bursts and others heard soft bursts
Question says → Passage says
high-pitched… low-pitchedloud bursts… soft bursts
Why: The passage compares loud and soft noise, and predictable and unpredictable noise, but never pitch. Nobody in the list studied this, so E (None of the above).
The trap: Glass and Singer (A) compared loud and soft noise and counted errors, which looks close. Loud vs soft is volume, not pitch.
Question 39
Answer: BParagraph 2, second sentence
Who found noise makes it hard to handle three things at once?
high noise levels interfered with the performance of subjects who were required to monitor three dials at a time
Question says → Passage says
find it difficult… when exposed to noisehigh noise levels interfered with the performance
three tasks at the same timemonitor three dials at a time
Why: Watching three dials at once is the three-at-a-time task, and the bracket after it names Broadbent (1957). B.
The trap: Finkelman and Glass (C) also studied doing two things at once, but theirs was tracking plus repeating numbers, not three dials.
Question 40
Answer: CParagraph 2, last sentence
Who found noise affects repeating numbers while doing something else?
but it did interfere with the subject's ability to repeat numbers while tracking (Finkelman and Glass, 1970)
Question says → Passage says
affects a subject's capacitydid interfere with the subject's ability
while carrying out another taskwhile tracking
Why: Repeating numbers while tracking a line is the 'another task' combination, credited to Finkelman and Glass. C.
The trap: Glass appears in both 'Glass and Singer' and 'Finkelman and Glass'. Check the full pair named in the bracket.
D needs an inference: if the countryside feels 'too quiet', you've adapted to more noise elsewhere. C sounds similar but the passage never says people prefer noise while sleeping.
During the noise, all groups performed at about the same level. The difference only appears later in the proofreading task.
Words from this passage worth keeping
plausible(Paragraph 1)
reasonable and likely to be true
physiological arousal(Paragraph 1)
the body's alert reaction, such as a faster heart rate
tune out(Paragraph 3)
stop paying attention to
intrusions(Paragraph 3)
unwelcome interruptions
take its toll(Paragraph 4)
have a harmful effect
transient(Paragraph 6)
short-lived, temporary
chronic(Paragraph 6)
continuing for a long time
distractible(Paragraph 6)
easily losing focus
Sit this test on Langujet, then come back
The full Cambridge 7 Test 4 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 7, Test 4, Reading Passage 3. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
