Modeling and Mapping of Combined Noise Annoyance for Aircraft and Road Traffic Based on a Partial 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.

Toward an Individual Binaural Loudness Model for Hearing Aid Fitting and Development

The individual loudness perception of a patient plays an important role in hearing aid satisfaction and use in daily life. Hearing aid fitting and development might benefit from individualized loudness models (ILMs), enabling better adaptation of the processing to individual needs. The central question is whether additional parameters are required for ILMs beyond non-linear cochlear gain loss and linear attenuation common to existing loudness models for the hearing impaired (HI). Here, loudness perception in eight normal hearing (NH) and eight HI listeners was measured in conditions ranging from monaural narrowband to binaural broadband, to systematically assess spectral and binaural loudness summation and their interdependence. A binaural summation stage was devised with empirical monaural loudness judgments serving as input. While NH showed binaural inhibition in line with the literature, binaural summation and its inter-subject variability were increased in HI, indicating the necessity for individualized binaural summation. Toward ILMs, a recent monaural loudness model was extended with the suggested binaural stage, and the number and type of additional parameters required to describe and to predict individual loudness were assessed. In addition to one parameter for the individual amount of binaural summation, a bandwidth-dependent monaural parameter was required to successfully account for individual spectral summation.

Evaluating Psychoacoustic Parameters and Quality of Transmitted Speech Over Wireless Networks

Psychoacoustic parameter of sound known as loudness is a major quality factor for assessing the perceptual quality of service of speech signals transmitted through telecommunication networks. The Zwicker and Fastl loudness model is a preferred loudness model and in this work has been programmed to obtain both loudness and loudness level of speeches transmitted over wireless. Here,the best maximum instantaneous loudness of the transmitted speeches is 42.55% of that of the original speech. While the best maximum instantaneous loudness level of the transmitted speeches is 87.06% of that of the original speech. These showed an intuitive and innovative representation of the degradation suffered by the transmitted speeches with respect to the original speech.