II. Test design (10%)
You are going to make some GSAT mixed questions (學測混合題型) for 12th graders to test their reading skills. Please design THREE reading comprehension questions based on the passage below. The answers to each question must be provided.
Question 1: One blank-filling question, with more than one blank.
Question 2: One multiple-choice question, with SIX choice items and more than one correct answer.
Question 3: One short-answer question.
Noise-cancelling headphones are popular for making travelling to and from work less boring and for blocking out the noise of daily life. However, audiologists are concerned that using them too much might affect people’s hearing.
While the technology has clear benefits, such as helping people listen to music at lower
volumes, some experts worry that blocking out background noise may have negative effects.
Renee Almeida, an audiology expert at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, has noticed an increase in adults coming to her clinic with hearing problems. However, tests often show their hearing is fine. The problem is not with their ears but with their brains. These people might find it hard to locate where a sound is coming from. They may also have difficulty following conversations in noisy places like trains, bars, or restaurants.
This condition, known as auditory processing disorder (APD), is usually diagnosed in children, so the rise in adults with similar problems surprised Almeida. She believes that frequent use of noise-canceling headphones could be the cause. “The brain is used to dealing with thousands of sounds at once, and it knows what to pay attention to. With noise-cancelling headphones, the brain only gets one sound source, like music or a podcast. There’s nothing else to focus on,” she explains.
Too much use of noise-cancelling headphones might affect how children develop the ability to focus on sounds. For adults, it could make their brains less active, like muscles getting weaker from lack of exercise. In both cases, it might be harder to hear speech clearly in noisy environments.
Although there is no scientific proof that noise-canceling headphones cause APD, Almeida believes more research is needed. “Studies should look into the long-term effects of using these headphones, especially in young people,” she says. APD affects around three to five per cent of school-age children. It is linked to low birth weight and ear infections. In older adults, APD can be caused by a head injury, though the cause is often unknown.
Harvey Dillon, a professor at the University of Manchester, agrees that how we listen affects our ability to focus on speech when there is background noise. He explains that children improve at focusing on sounds from age five to fourteen. However, if children have many ear infections, they may have problems focusing on sounds from one direction.
Adults seem to be more adaptable. Dillon explains that if someone wears a single earplug for a week, they will slowly relearn how to locate sounds. When the earplug is removed, their ability decreases but recovers quickly. He believes that noise-cancelling headphones could actually help because they allow people to listen at lower volumes without background noise.
Professor Dani Tomlin, from the University of Melbourne, says that using noise-cancelling headphones for long periods might make listening harder when they are taken off. However, she says they may be good for people with autism. “Instead of recommending people stop using noise-cancelling headphones, we need more research,” she says.
For now, Almeida suggests people practice listening, such as by listening to debates on the radio or writing down the words of songs. “The brain is very adaptable,” she says. “Make an effort to listen carefully to what’s being said.”
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