| Abstrak/Abstract |
Informed by current fast-moving and high work demands, urban environments should be strategically designed to foster peak employee performance and holistic well-being. Drawing on principles of biophilia and soundscape, urban work environments can be reimagined to integrate natural elements and design features that support individual and organizational benefit. Short bursts of nature's sound stimulus throughout work as micro-refresh are being investigated. A laboratory-based experiment was conducted involving 10 study participants performing tasks under control conditions without sound and treatment conditions with nature's sound stimulus. Dependent variables being recorded and further analyzed are objective measurements (i.e., reaction time, concentration–time ratio, error rate) and subjective measurements (i.e., NASA task load index, detachment, recovery, relaxation, subjective symptoms, and attentional control scale). Objective measurement of reaction time shows a significant difference between control and treatment conditions in some periods during 45 min for each set of tasks. There was no significant difference between the control and treatment conditions for concentration time ratio measurement. The average number of errors differed significantly between conditions, with more errors occurring in the condition without nature sound stimuli. Subjective measurement of NASA task load index and subjective symptoms found no significant difference between both conditions. Meanwhile, a difference was found between two conditions in the detachment, recovery, and relaxation questionnaire. The attentional control scale describes a total average score of 50.5 ± 7.47. Several findings exposed the potential restorative elements of nature's sound stimulus that benefit individual performances objectively and perceived subjectively. |
