The Effect of Ambient Sound on Visual Response Time in 12–15 Year Old Kung-Fu Athletes

Background. Spectator pressure in combat sports significantly impacts athletes’ performance, influencing both support and negative stress, challenging athletes to make rapid, accurate decisions amid intense physical demands. Problem and aim. The aim of this study was to investigate both simple and choice response time skills of 12 to 15-year-old international and national female kung fu athletes in quiet and noisy environments. Material and methods. A total of 32 individuals (11 international kung fu athletes (14.18 ±.874 years), 10 national kung fu athletes (12.90 ±.875 years) and 11 non-athletes (12.36 ±.504 years) participated in the study voluntarily. Participants underwent simple and choice response time measurements in a quiet environment and then underwent the same measurements in an audible (noisy) environment on another day. Participants were measured on a Light Trainer measuring device placed on the wall. The participants were asked to extinguish the disks without touching them by using both hands to turn on the lights with sensors in random order for 30 seconds. Participants were asked to extinguish a random green light in the simple response time test and to extinguish a green light between red lights in the choice response time test. The measurements were performed in two conditions, with and without sound. Results. When the simple and choice visual response times were analyzed, a significant difference was determined in the main effects between the groups in the visual response times of the research group (p< 0.05). Both international and national kung fu athletes were found to have lower visual response times than non-athletes in both sound and quiet conditions. However, no significant difference was found between international and national kung fu athletes (p> 0.05). Conclusion. It was determined that the response times of the athletes were shorter than those of the non-athletes in both audible and quiet environments, and the response times of all participants were lower in the audible environment than in a quiet environment.