The Relationship of Personality Facets to Acceptable Noise Levels

Background: Many theories have described factors that contribute to one’s acceptance of noise. Psychological factors such as self-control and personality have been noted to be related to a person’s acceptable noise level (ANL). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to expand on previous research to further evaluate how personality contributes to the variance of a person’s ANL, by examining personality domains and facets. Research Design: This study was a repeated measures within-subject research design. Study Sample: Fifty-five young adults with a pure tone average of 20 dB hearing level or better were recruited from the surrounding community. Data Collection and Analysis: All participants completed the NEO™ Five-Factor Inventory-3 (NEO-FFI-3) and the ANL test. Correlations were run between the five domains and ANLs, as well as the 30 facets and ANLs. Significant correlations were then run in a hierarchical regression analysis to assess contributed variance. Results: No significant relationships were found between the five domains and ANLs. Significant relationships were found for the following facets and ANLs: Impulsiveness, Actions, Straightforwardness, and Order. The regression findings demonstrated that only the Straightforwardness and Actions facets significantly contributed to the model and accounted for 28 percent of the variance of ANLs. Conclusions: Results of this study support that those aspects of the patient’s personality, as measured by the NEO-FFI-3, influence the patient’s ANL and therefore the willingness to tolerate background noise, which could have implications for better hearing-health care.