Appraisal of Significance of Acoustic Parameters in Contribution to Human Annoyance

The goal of this paper was to describe a study which aimed to determine the significance of acoustic parameters in terms of some typical audio signals which occur in common urban environments. The focus when establishing the significance was set on their relevance with respect to the annoyance of the study participants. In order to carry out this experiment, an acoustic environment recording was made in which short distracting signals were inserted into the acoustic environment background sound. The recording obtained in the described way was then reproduced to listeners in laboratory conditions. Furthermore, the experiment was envisaged in a way that the participants had the option to adjust the following acoustic parameters: the amplitude, duration and the amplitude growth rates of the short signals. In order to prove the statistical significance of the obtained results from the experiment and the study premise, the chi-square test was applied. Thus, according to the results of the study, the ranking of the objective acoustic parameters was achieved with respect to the human annoyance i.e., it can be concluded that the most common reason for the human annoyance in different acoustic environments is the sound amplitude, then its duration and finally its amplitude growth rate.

Dynamic Optimization Design of Cranes Based on Human–Crane–Rail System Dynamics and Annoyance Rate

The operators of overhead traveling cranes experience discomfort as a result of the vibrations of crane structures. These vibrations are produced by defects in the rails on which the cranes move. To improve the comfort of operators, a nine-degree-of-freedom (nine-DOF) mathematical model of a “human–crane–rail” system was constructed. Based on the theoretical guidance provided in ISO 2631-1, an annoyance rate model was established, and quantization results were determined. A dynamic optimization design method for overhead traveling cranes is proposed. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm was used to optimize the crane structural design, with the structure parameters as the basic variables, the annoyance rate model as the objective function, and the acceleration amplitude and displacement amplitude of the crane as the constraint conditions. The proposed model and method were used to optimize the design of a double-girder 100 t–28.5 m casting crane, and the optimal parameters are obtained. The results show that optimization decreases the human annoyance rate from 28.3% to 9.8% and the root mean square of the weighted acceleration of human vibration from 0.59 m/s2to 0.38 m/s2. These results demonstrate the effectiveness and practical applicability of the models and method proposed in this paper.

Combined Annoyance Assessment of Subway Train-Induced Structural Vibration and Ambient Noise

The subway train-induced structural vibration and ambient noise may cause annoyance and other negative influences on the human body. Presently, limited models have been developed to execute the quantitative evaluation of the combined annoyance caused by both structural vibration and ambient noise. In this study, a fuzzy membership function and normal distribution function were coupled to describe the fuzziness and randomness of human annoyance responses; a novel annoyance evaluation model was proposed to assess the structural vibration and ambient noise; and the annoyance of human was classified into six grades. Subsequently, we integrated an actual case into this study to calculate and analyze the combined annoyance degree. The applied results were compared with the standard limits, in which the rationality and superiority of the proposed model were verified. The results exhibit the notion that the proposed models perform well and can serve as a reference for spatial planning and development in the nearby subway environment.