Pilot studies of noise annoyance in relation to time, amplitude and frequency characteristics of sound

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (5) ◽  
pp. 981-986
Author(s):  
Jan Radosz
Keyword(s):  
Work Performance ◽  
Test System ◽  
Frequency Characteristics ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
3D Sound ◽  
Noise Annoyance ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Reference Environment

Noise is any unwanted sound that may be disruptive or harmful to health or increase the risk of an accident at work. Noise as a stressor can contribute to the development of various types of diseases, cause distraction, make work difficult and reduce its efficiency. Aim of the pilot studies was to asses noise annoyance in relation to time, amplitude and frequency characteristics of sound in typical office environment. The Vienna Test System was used for this purpose. Virtual office acoustic environments were developed with different psychoacoustic parameters, but with a constant A-weighted sound pressure level of 55 dB - environment with conversations, environment with office equipment (computers, printers, telephones), environment D with all office noise sources together. The reference environment was a quiet office room with no additional noise sources. Recorded real noise sources were transferred to a virtual 3D sound environment and converted into binaural sound, which was then played back on headphones. During the exposure to each of the acoustic environments, the subjects performed the ALS test (work performance series) and then assessed the given environment using a questionnaire. The tested acoustic environments were assessed in the range from not at all annoying to very annoying. On average, environments with office noise were rated as moderately annoying. However, subjective feelings of the respondents were not reflected in the results of psychological tests.

scholarly journals Lower Noise Annoyance Associated with GIS-Derived Greenspace: Pathways through Perceived Greenspace and Residential Noise

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel M. Dzhambov ◽  
Iana Markevych ◽  
Boris Tilov ◽  
Zlatoslav Arabadzhiev ◽  
Drozdstoj Stoyanov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Noise Level ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Noise Abatement ◽  
Noise Annoyance ◽  
Lower Noise

Growing amounts of evidence support an association between self-reported greenspace near the home and lower noise annoyance; however, objectively defined greenspace has rarely been considered. In the present study, we tested the association between objective measures of greenspace and noise annoyance, with a focus on underpinning pathways through noise level and perceived greenspace. We sampled 720 students aged 18 to 35 years from the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Objective greenspace was defined by several Geographic Information System (GIS)-derived metrics: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), tree cover density, percentage of green space in circular buffers of 100, 300 and 500 m, and the Euclidean distance to the nearest structured green space. Perceived greenspace was defined by the mean of responses to five items asking about its quantity, accessibility, visibility, usage, and quality. We assessed noise annoyance due to transportation and other neighborhood noise sources and daytime noise level (Lday) at the residence. Tests of the parallel mediation models showed that higher NDVI and percentage of green space in all buffers were associated with lower noise annoyance, whereas for higher tree cover this association was observed only in the 100 m buffer zone. In addition, the effects of NDVI and percentage of green space were mediated by higher perceived greenspace and lower Lday. In the case of tree cover, only perceived greenspace was a mediator. Our findings suggest that the potential for greenspace to reduce noise annoyance extends beyond noise abatement. Applying a combination of GIS-derived and perceptual measures should enable researchers to better tap individuals’ experience of residential greenspace and noise.

scholarly journals Modeling and Mapping of Combined Noise Annoyance for Aircraft and Road Traffic Based on a Partial Loudness Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 8724
Author(s):  
Wonhee Lee ◽  
Chanil Chun ◽  
Dongwook Kim ◽  
Soogab Lee
Keyword(s):  
Background Noise ◽  
Road Traffic ◽  
Noise Source ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Masking Effect ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Noise Annoyance ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Loudness Model

Complex transportation systems often produce combined exposure to aircraft and road noise. Depending on the noise source, the annoyance response is different, and a masking effect occurs between the noise sources within the combined noise. Considering these characteristics, partial loudness was adopted to evaluate noise annoyance. First, a partial loudness model incorporating binaural inhibition was proposed and validated. Second, short- and long-term annoyance models were developed using partial loudness. Finally, the annoyance of combined noise was visualized as a map. These models can evaluate the annoyance by considering both the intensity and frequency characteristics of the noise. In addition, it is possible to quantify the masking effect that occurs between noise sources. Combined noise annoyance maps depict the degree of annoyance of residents and show the background noise effect, which is not seen on general noise maps.

scholarly journals Wind Turbine Noise and Sleep: Pilot Studies on the Influence of Noise Characteristics

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. 2573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Ageborg Morsing ◽  
Michael Smith ◽  
Mikael Ögren ◽  
Pontus Thorsson ◽  
Eja Pedersen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Amplitude Modulation ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Rotational Frequency ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Wind Turbine Noise ◽  
Acoustical Properties ◽  
Noise Characteristics ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
The Impact

The number of onshore wind turbines in Europe has greatly increased over recent years, a trend which can be expected to continue. However, the effects of wind turbine noise on long-term health outcomes for residents living near wind farms is largely unknown, although sleep disturbance may be a cause for particular concern. Presented here are two pilot studies with the aim of examining the acoustical properties of wind turbine noise that might be of special relevance regarding effects on sleep. In both pilots, six participants spent five consecutive nights in a sound environment laboratory. During three of the nights, participants were exposed to wind turbine noise with variations in sound pressure level, amplitude modulation strength and frequency, spectral content, turbine rotational frequency and beating behaviour. The impact of noise on sleep was measured using polysomnography and questionnaires. During nights with wind turbine noise there was more frequent awakening, less deep sleep, less continuous N2 sleep and increased subjective disturbance compared to control nights. The findings indicated that amplitude modulation strength, spectral frequency and the presence of strong beats might be of particular importance for adverse sleep effects. The findings will be used in the development of experimental exposures for use in future, larger studies.

scholarly journals Investigation of an MAA Test With Virtual Sound Synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruijie Meng ◽  
Jingpeng Xiang ◽  
Jinqiu Sang ◽  
Chengshi Zheng ◽  
Xiaodong Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sound Source ◽  
Test System ◽  
Test Method ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Suitable Alternative ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Smallest Detectable Difference ◽  
Localization Ability ◽  
Acoustic Environments

The ability to localize a sound source is very important in our daily life, specifically to analyze auditory scenes in complex acoustic environments. The concept of minimum audible angle (MAA), which is defined as the smallest detectable difference between the incident directions of two sound sources, has been widely used in the research fields of auditory perception to measure localization ability. Measuring MAAs usually involves a reference sound source and either a large number of loudspeakers or a movable sound source in order to reproduce sound sources at a large number of predefined incident directions. However, existing MAA test systems are often cumbersome because they require a large number of loudspeakers or a mechanical rail slide and thus are expensive and inconvenient to use. This study investigates a novel MAA test method using virtual sound source synthesis and avoiding the problems with traditional methods. We compare the perceptual localization acuity of sound sources in two experimental designs: using the virtual presentation and real sound sources. The virtual sound source is reproduced through a pair of loudspeakers weighted by vector-based amplitude panning (VBAP). Results show that the average measured MAA at 0° azimuth is 1.1° and the average measured MAA at 90° azimuth is 3.1° in a virtual acoustic system, meanwhile the average measured MAA at 0° azimuth is about 1.2° and the average measured MAA at 90° azimuth is 3.3° when using the real sound sources. The measurements of the two methods have no significant difference. We conclude that the proposed MAA test system is a suitable alternative to more complicated and expensive setups.

The test bench for the assessment of the impact of wind turbine noise on human performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (4) ◽  
pp. 2629-2633
Author(s):  
Dariusz Pleban ◽  
Grzegorz Szczepański ◽  
Jan Radosz ◽  
Łukasz Kapica
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Test Bench ◽  
Test Chamber ◽  
Wind Farms ◽  
Test System ◽  
Test Method ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Wind Turbine Noise ◽  
The Impact

Among the factors related to the operation of wind farms, wind turbine noise has to be seen as a source of annoyance for both people living and working near wind farms. A method and a test bench to conduct noise annoyance tests of different types of wind turbine noise in laboratory conditions have been developed. The test bench is based on a multi-channel sound reproducing system using the DANTE network (in which digital acoustic signals are broadcast over Ethernet) and is compiled in the acoustic test chamber. The test bench consists of 19 speakers, including 17 Avantone MixCube studio monitors and 2 LS600 woofers. During the tests a study subject is assessed in terms of efficiency and performance using a computer-based ALS test from the Vienna Test System. The paper describes the test method, the test bench and the results of the pilot studies carried out to assess the impact of wind turbine noise on human performance.

The effect of sound masking on employees' acoustic comfort and performance in open-plan offices in Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (1) ◽  
pp. 5678-5683
Author(s):  
Roderick Mackenzie ◽  
Joonhee Lee ◽  
Vincent Le Men ◽  
Farideh Zarei
Keyword(s):  
Work Performance ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Sound Level ◽  
Sound Levels ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Acoustic Comfort ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Sound Masking ◽  
And Performance

Sound masking systems are commonly used in open-plan offices to generate a controlled minimum level of background sound, in order to decrease the signal-to-noise ratio of intrusive speech and blend out transient office noise. However, a question in the acoustical design of offices is whether the self-generated noise of occupants may alone be sufficient to provide the background sound level conditions necessary to achieve similar levels of speech privacy and acoustic comfort as sound masking systems. This study examines the relationship between occupant-perceived speech privacy and acoustic comfort under three different acoustic scenarios (no masking, controlled 42 dBA, and 47 dBA masking sound levels). The study was conducted pre-COVID-19 in two separate open-plan offices located in Quebec, Canada that at the time were close to full occupancy. Employees completed subjective questionnaires before and after each change in conditions, focusing on how the sound environment impacted their comfort and work performance during the study. Statistical results show that the occupants were significantly more satisfied during the two sound masking conditions in comparison to the no-masking condition, where only the occupant-generated and exterior/mechanical system noise was present as the background sound. Implications for open-plan offices with lower occupancy conditions post-COVID-19 are discussed.

scholarly journals Noise Annoyance in the UAE: A Twitter Case Study via a Data-Mining Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 2198
Author(s):  
Andrew Peplow ◽  
Justin Thomas ◽  
Aamna AlShehhi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Noise Source ◽  
Search Algorithm ◽  
Noise Pollution ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Noise Annoyance

Noise pollution is a growing global public health concern. Among other issues, it has been linked with sleep disturbance, hearing functionality, increased blood pressure and heart disease. Individuals are increasingly using social media to express complaints and concerns about problematic noise sources. This behavior—using social media to post noise-related concerns—might help us better identify troublesome noise pollution hotspots, thereby enabling us to take corrective action. The present work is a concept case study exploring the use of social media data as a means of identifying and monitoring noise annoyance across the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We explored an extract of Twitter data for the UAE, comprising over eight million messages (tweets) sent during 2015. We employed a search algorithm to identify tweets concerned with noise annoyance and, where possible, we also extracted the exact location via Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates) associated with specific messages/complaints. The identified noise complaints were organized in a digital database and analyzed according to three criteria: first, the main types of the noise source (music, human factors, transport infrastructures); second, exterior or interior noise source and finally, date and time of the report, with the location of the Twitter user. This study supports the idea that lexicon-based analyses of large social media datasets may prove to be a useful adjunct or as a complement to existing noise pollution identification and surveillance strategies.

scholarly journals Contributors to Neighbour Noise Annoyance

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 8098
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Benz ◽  
Julia Kuhlmann ◽  
Dirk Schreckenberg ◽  
Jördis Wothge
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Residential Satisfaction ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Noise Sensitivity ◽  
Physical Factors ◽  
Noise Sources ◽  
Noise Annoyance ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Relationship

Noise from neighbours has been shown to be one of the most noise annoying sources in Germany, but research on the influencing factors for the annoyance ratings is scarce. Therefore, we investigated whether different personal and contextual (social, physical) factors contribute to neighbour noise annoyance to better understand the neighbour noise annoyance situation. A population-representative survey in four areas in Germany was conducted, with each area further stratified according to their density of agglomeration (inner city, urban outskirt, rural area). Randomly selected residents from each area were invited by mail to participate in the study, either online or via a paper–pencil mode. Noise annoyance was assessed for different noise sources (e.g., neighbourhood, road, railway, aircrafts, different types of industry). In total, 1973 questionnaires were completed. We identified several factors to be predictive of neighbour noise annoyance: satisfaction with the neighbourhood, relationship with neighbours, residential satisfaction, noise sensitivity, and density of agglomeration for people living in the inner city in comparison to rural areas. Particularly, social aspects such as the relationship with neighbours and satisfaction with the neighbourhood have been shown to affect neighbour noise annoyance.

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