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Traffic Noise, Environmental Awareness, and Pedestrian Behavior

Recent research has confirmed that social behavior, especially helpfulness, is affected by the environmental input level: As the level of environmental bombardment increases, the level of helpfulness decreases. This study was designed to evaluate one explanation for this effect, the restricted awareness explanation. We hypothesized that as environmental bombardment increases, people become less aware of peripheral objects and happenings in their immediate surroundings. This characteristic may be part of a general adjustment to high-input levels, which may also include an increase in walking speed and a decrease in visual scanning of the environment. The results confirmed each of these expectations. During periods of high traffic noise and density, in contrast to low periods, pedestrians were found to be less aware of novel objects placed along their route, to walk faster, and to engage more in a straight-ahead gaze fixation.