Gender differences in cognitive performance and psychophysiological responses during noise exposure and different workloads

•The females and males indicate responses of significant and different during noise exposure.•The women are more sensitive to noise; thus, they experience more noise-induced annoyance and fatigue.•The females had a better cognitive performance at levels of ≤65 dBA with a low and medium mental workload.•The males had a better cognitive performance at levels ≥65 dB and a high workload.•The noise-induced stress effect in females is more than in men.