To examine the relationship between noise exposure and heart disease, a study compared a group of people with
hearing loss to a group of people without hearing loss. The researchers found that the percentage of people in
the hearing loss group who had heart disease was higher than the percentage for the group that did not have
hearing loss. This association was particularly strong for workers exposed to loud occupational noise.
(a) Is this study an experiment? If so, what is the explanatory variable, and what is the response variable? If
not, explain why it is not an experiment.
(b) From this study alone, is it reasonable to conclude that noise exposure is the cause of the observed
difference in heart disease risk? Justify your answer.
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a) No, the study is not an experiment because there were no experimental conditions to which study
participants were randomly assigned.
b) No, since this was an observational study, cause-and-effect conclusions cannot be drawn.
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(a) This study is not an experiment because the researchers did not randomly assign participants to different groups or manipulate the level of noise exposure. Instead, they observed and compared two existing groups of people - those with hearing loss and those without hearing loss. The explanatory variable in this study is hearing loss (or noise exposure) and the response variable is the presence of heart disease.
(b) From this study alone, it is not reasonable to conclude that noise exposure is the cause of the observed difference in heart disease risk. The study only found an association between hearing loss (indicating noise exposure) and heart disease. There could be other factors that contribute to both hearing loss and heart disease, such as age, lifestyle factors, or genetic predisposition. Additionally, the study did not control for confounding variables, which could influence the relationship between noise exposure and heart disease. Therefore, further research is needed to determine if noise exposure is indeed the cause of the observed difference in heart disease risk.
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