May 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 had 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 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 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 exist： but it does mean that noise is less dangerous than， say， being brought up in an orphanage —— which really is mental health hazard.

    auditory adj. 聽覺的

    inadequate adj. 不適當的

    plea n.  要求

    abatement n.  減少

    discredit v.  懷疑

    allegation n.  斷言

    caption n.  插圖說明

    wreck n.  殘廢人

    snag n.  疑難之處，障礙

    anecdote n.  軼聞

    slander v.  誹謗

    persecute v.  迫害

    squadron n.  中隊

    psychiatric adj. 精神病學的

    diagnosis n.  診所

    orphanage n.  孤兒院

    在工業部門工作和在軍隊中服役的許多人對噪聲音有切身的體會，他們認為對這個問題進行調查中浪費時間，甚至不愿承認噪音可能對人有影響。另一方面，那些討厭噪音的人有時會用不充分的證據來支持他們希望有一個較為安靜的社會環境的要求。要求減少噪音是件好事，但是如果與拙劣的科學摻雜在一起的話，就不會被人們所信任，這是很遺憾的。

    常見的一種指責是，噪音能引起精神病。例如，最近一家周報刊登了一篇文章，文章上方有一幅引人注目的插圖，是一位表情沮喪的女子。圖的文字說明："她是又一個受害者，成了只會尖叫的可憐蟲。"當人們急切地看完正文后，便知道這女子是個打字員，辦公室打字機的聲音使她越來越煩，最終住進了精神病醫院。這類奇聞的疑難之處是無法區別因果關系。是噪音引起了（精神）病呢，還是（精神）病的癥狀之一是對噪音的抱怨？另有一位病人可能同樣有理由抱怨說，她的鄰居們正在聯合起來對她進行誹謗和迫害，不過，人們不會輕信她的抱怨。

    對于噪音問題，需要對大量生活在噪音中的人進行研究，看一看他們是否比其他人更易患精神病。例如，美國海軍前些時候調查了許多在航空母航上工作的人，這次調查被稱之為："安內英工程".即使住在離機場幾英里以外的地方，機場的噪音也會使人難受。因此，如果你能想像出和幾個中隊的噴氣機同在一個甲板上是什么滋味兒的話，你就會認識到現代海軍是研究噪音的好地方。但是，不管進行精神病學的調查訪問，還是進行客觀的測試，都不能顯示噪音對這些美國水兵有任何影響。這個結果只不過證實了美國和英國早些時候的研究結論：如果噪音對精神健康有影響的話，那也一定是微乎其微，以致現代的精神病診斷方法還發現不了。這并不是證實不存在噪音對健康的影響。但它確實說明，噪音的危險性 —— 比如說 —— 比在孤兒院長大所受的危害要小一些，孤兒院才是真正危害精神健康的地方。