25 · 噪音的非听觉效应
Non-auditory Effects of Noise
区分观点、依据、例子与限制，用自己的话准确重建论述。
论证提醒：没有检出某种精神健康危害，不等于噪音没有其他健康影响；相关性、因果解释和作者据此作出的判断，也不是同一层证据。请保留原文所讨论的结果范围。
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Many people in industry and the Services, who have practical experience of noise, regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time; they are not prepared even to admit the possibility that noise affects people. On the other hand, those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society. This is a pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause, and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with bad science.
One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness. A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance, was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress, with the caption "She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck". On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital. Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course that one cannot distinguish cause and effect. Was the noise a cause of the illness, or were the complaints about noise merely a symptom? Another patient might equally well complain that her neighbours were combining to slander her and persecute her, and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement.
What is needed in the case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions, to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are. Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance, examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: the study was known as Project Anehin. It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome; if you think what it must be like to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft, you will realize that a modern navy is a good place to study noise. But neither psychiatric interviews nor objective tests were able to show any effects upon these American sailors. This result merely confirms earlier American and British studies: if there is any effect of noise upon mental health, it must be so small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it. That does not prove that it does not exist: but it does mean that noise is less dangerous than, say, being brought up in an orphanage—which really is a mental health hazard.
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整篇课文
Many people in industry and the Services, who have practical experience of noise, regard any investigation of this question as a waste of time; they are not prepared even to admit the possibility that noise affects people. On the other hand, those who dislike noise will sometimes use most inadequate evidence to support their pleas for a quieter society. This is a pity, because noise abatement really is a good cause, and it is likely to be discredited if it gets to be associated with bad science.
One allegation often made is that noise produces mental illness. A recent article in a weekly newspaper, for instance, was headed with a striking illustration of a lady in a state of considerable distress, with the caption "She was yet another victim, reduced to a screaming wreck". On turning eagerly to the text, one learns that the lady was a typist who found the sound of office typewriters worried her more and more until eventually she had to go into a mental hospital. Now the snag in this sort of anecdote is of course that one cannot distinguish cause and effect. Was the noise a cause of the illness, or were the complaints about noise merely a symptom? Another patient might equally well complain that her neighbours were combining to slander her and persecute her, and yet one might be cautious about believing this statement.
What is needed in the case of noise is a study of large numbers of people living under noisy conditions, to discover whether they are mentally ill more often than other people are. Some time ago the United States Navy, for instance, examined a very large number of men working on aircraft carriers: the study was known as Project Anehin. It can be unpleasant to live even several miles from an aerodrome; if you think what it must be like to share the deck of a ship with several squadrons of jet aircraft, you will realize that a modern navy is a good place to study noise. But neither psychiatric interviews nor objective tests were able to show any effects upon these American sailors. This result merely confirms earlier American and British studies: if there is any effect of noise upon mental health, it must be so small that present methods of psychiatric diagnosis cannot find it. That does not prove that it does not exist: but it does mean that noise is less dangerous than, say, being brought up in an orphanage—which really is a mental health hazard.
工业界和军队里，不少经常接触噪声的人认为，研究这个问题纯粹是浪费时间；他们甚至不愿承认，噪声可能对人产生影响。另一方面，讨厌噪声的人有时又拿极不充分的证据，来支持让社会安静一些的诉求。这很可惜，因为减少噪声确实是一件好事；一旦与不可靠的科学论证扯上关系，它就可能失去公信力。
人们常提出的一项指控是，噪声会导致精神疾病。例如，最近一家周报的文章配了一幅醒目的插图，画着一位极度痛苦的女子，旁边写着：“她又是一个受害者，被折磨得精神崩溃、尖叫不止。”读者急着往下读，才知道她是一名打字员，办公室打字机的声音越来越让她难受，最后不得不住进精神病院。这类个案的问题，当然在于无法分清因果：是噪声导致了疾病，还是对噪声的抱怨只是疾病的一种症状？另一位患者同样可能抱怨，邻居正合伙诽谤、迫害她；但对这种说法，人们或许就会谨慎得多。
要研究噪声，需要调查大量生活在嘈杂环境中的人，看看他们是否比其他人更常患精神疾病。例如，美国海军曾检查过许多在航空母舰上工作的人，这项研究称为“安内英计划”。住在离机场几英里远的地方都可能让人不舒服；设想一下，与几个中队的喷气式飞机共用一块甲板是什么滋味，就会明白，现代海军很适合用来研究噪声。但无论精神科访谈还是客观测试，都未能在这些美国海军人员身上发现相应影响。这个结果只是印证了英美较早的研究：假如噪声确实影响精神健康，影响也必定小到当时的精神科诊断方法无法发现。这不能证明影响不存在；不过，作者据此认为，它的危险小于在孤儿院长大，而后者确实会危及精神健康。
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