Annoyance due to single and combined sound exposure from railway and road traffic

Environmental noise is a growing and well recognized health problem. However, in many cases people are exposed not to a single noise source-for example, road, railway, or aircraft noise-but to a combination of noise exposures and there is only limited knowledge of the effects on health of exposure to combined noise sources. A socio-acoustic survey among 1953 persons aged 18-75 years was conducted in residential areas exposed to railway and road traffic noise with sound levels ranging from L(Aeq,24h) 45-72 dB in a municipality east of Gothenburg, Sweden. The objectives were to assess various adverse health effects, including annoyance, and to elucidate the impact of exposure to single and combined noise sources. In areas exposed to both railway and road traffic, the proportion annoyed by the total traffic sound environment (total annoyance) was significantly higher than in areas with one dominant noise source (rail or road traffic) with the same total sound exposure (L(Aeq,24h,tot)). This interaction effect was significant from 59 dB and increased gradually with higher sound levels. Effects of the total sound exposure should be considered in risk assessments and in noise mitigation activities.     

多声源共同作用下的混合声剂量值预测方法研究

本文借助单一声样本与人工合成的混合声样本,重点研究了由多个单一声源共同作用形成的混合声的剂量值预测方法.首先,提出了一种基于对作用时长短时化处理的声音样本剂量值确定流程,并利用该方法分别确定了单一声样本与人工合成的混合声样本的剂量值.随后,分析了混合声样本剂量值(亦称总剂量,记为LTotal)与构成混合声样本的每个单一声样本剂量值(亦称组分剂量,记为Li,i=1,2,···,K;K为单一噪声样本的个数亦称组分数量)之间的关系,实现了在已知所有单一声剂量值的前提下成功预测混合声的剂量值,为深入开展复杂声环境下的噪声源控制和噪声总剂量控制、实现高效的环境噪声治理提供了理论依据.     

大空间人群声学模型

经典扩散声场理论难以适用于大空间建筑。为了探究大空间建筑中人群分布对声场的影响,本文用模拟与实测相结合的方法,提出了一种适用于大空间的人群声学模型,得到了确定等效声源和人群声源的简化方法,以及人群密度与声压级之间、人群总数与发声人数之间的关系。用实测数据对该人群声学模型进行了验证。     

Total annoyance from an industrial noise source with a main spectral component combined with a background noise

When living close to an industrial plant, people are exposed to a combination of industrial noise sources and a background noise composed of all the other noise sources in the environment. As a first step, noise annoyance indicators in laboratory conditions are proposed for a single exposure to an industrial noise source. The second step detailed in this paper involves determining total annoyance indicators in laboratory conditions for ambient noises composed of an industrial noise source and a background noise. Two types of steady and permanent industrial noise sources are studied: low frequency noises with a main spectral component at 100 Hz, and noises with a main spectral component in middle frequencies. Five background noises are assessed so as to take into account different sound environments which can usually be heard by people living around an industrial plant. One main conclusion of this study is that two different analyses are necessary to determine total annoyance indicators for this type of ambient noise, depending on the industrial noise source composing it. Therefore, two total annoyance indicators adapted to the ambient noises studied are proposed.     

Comments on “multiple time scaling for analysis of third order non-linear differential equations”

In order to better estimate how and to what extent people are affected by exposure to environmental noise, an attempt must be made to calculate first the size of the entire population exposed to certain levels of noise and, second, groups within the population which are particularly sensitive to noise. Such a study has been started in the Federal Republic of Germany. It has been estimated that about 14 million people are exposed to sound levels of roughly 62 dB(A) and about 2 million to levels of roughly 70 dB(A). Nothing is yet known about the existence or size of sensitive groups within these populations, however, and the following report lists areas needing research in terms of this problem.     

Annoyance caused by simultaneous impulse, road-traffic, and aircraft sounds: a quantitative model.

In this study, total annoyance caused by different simultaneous environmental sounds is investigated. In spite of a number of puzzling data in the literature, it is fairly well established that in combinations in which the annoyance of one source is considerably higher than that of another source, total annoyance is equal to the maximum annoyance of the separate sources. For combinations in which both sounds are about equally annoying, total annoyance seems to be higher than the maximum source-specific annoyance. The available data, however, are too rough to model total annoyance in these conditions. The present laboratory studies were therefore designed to explore further possible procedures to quantify total annoyance. Subjects rated the (total) annoyance caused by various combinations of impulse, road-traffic, and aircraft sounds. The results support a simple model which predicts the overall or total rating sound level L(t) for combinations of several types of sounds. Here, L(t) is numerically equal to the A-weighted equivalent sound level L(eq) of road-traffic sound with the same annoyance as caused by the combination of sounds. In the model, the sound exposure caused by the impulse and/or aircraft sounds is first expressed in the L(eq) of equally annoying road-traffic sound. With the help of source-specific dose-effect relationships, this is achieved by adding level-dependent penalties to the L(eq) of the respective sources. Weighted summation of the corrected L(eq)'s of the various sources then results in L(t). An optimal overall fit of the data from two separate experiments was obtained when the weighted summation of the corrected L(eq)'s was performed with the parameter k in k log(sigma 10(corrected L(eq) of source j)/k) set to 15. The standard deviation of the differences between the experimental results and the model predictions with k = 15 was equivalent to the small change in annoyance produced by a 1.5-dB shift in the L(eq) of road-traffic sound. Adoption of k = 15 implies that after correction, two equal L(eq)'s yield a total rating sound level which is 4.5 dB higher than each single-source corrected L(eq).     

Exposure-effect relationships between road traffic noise annoyance and noise cost valuations in Valladolid, Spain

Environmental noise can produce negative effects on people’s health since it interferes with basic activities such as sleeping, resting, studying and communicating. These effects depend not only on the physical characteristics of the noise itself, but also on parameters associated to each person and each environment. It is thus important to study noise pollution from a quantitative point of view as well as a from the point of view of the annoyance that it produces in the population.We have conducted a social survey aiming to identify the main sound sources, evaluate the annoyance and analyse the main effects of noise on people. The survey was distributed to a sample of people living approximately in the corners of an imaginary 250 m grid placed over the map of the city of Valladolid (Spain). The same corners were used to perform in situ measurements for a noise city map.There are two main purposes for this research work: (1) we want to compare the objective noise measurements to the annoyance reported by the people in order to find some kind of dose-effect relationship, and (2) we want to analyse how the population of Valladolid evaluates noise reduction from an economical and social point of view.     

Temporary threshold shift in human subject exposed to noise

Using an audiometer,the effect of the noise level upon temporarythreshold shift(TTS)for five trained normal subjects(left ear only)was studied.The measurements were carried out after 6 min exposure(in third octave band)for different sound pressure levels ranging between 75-105 dB at three test fre-quencies 2,3,and 4 kHz.The results indicated that at exposure to noise of soundpressure level(SPL)above 85 dB,TTS increases linearly with ths SPL for all thetest frequencies.The work had extended to study the recovery curves for the sameears.The results indicated that the reduction in TTS on doubling the recoverytimes,for the two sound pressure levels 95 dB and 105 dB,occurs at a rate of near-ly 3 dB.The comparison of the recovery curve at 3 kHz with that calculated usingWard's general equation for recovery was made.Finally,to study the values ofTTS produced by exposure to certain noise at different test frequencies,distribu-tion curves for two recovery times were plotted representing TTS values,for anexposure     

Perceived quality features of aircraft sounds: An analysis of the measurement characteristics of a newly created semantic differential

The increasing air traffic in the past has led to the fact that and more and more people were affected by aircraft noise. Since the potential of reducing noise level of current aircraft will be limited in the future after recent developed techniques have been realized in practice.Therefore, additional efforts are necessary to improve the sound quality of aircraft noise and give hints to aircraft manufactures concerning components that have to be acoustically optimized. The present study describes the development of an item list for a semantic differential (SD) that is appropriate for the determination of different perceptive features of aircraft sound quality and focuses on the estimation of the reliability of this new instrument. The selected 10 SD items have relation to the sound components emitted by the different technical devices of airplane engines.The analyses of the measurement characteristics of the different items were based on G-theory. This method presupposes data possessing interval-scale-level characteristics. Therefore, the used rating scales were examined with respect to this attribute. The results verified that the data fulfill this precondition. The results gave evidence that the judgments show large inter-individual differences. The proportion of variance which can be traced back to the factor “aircraft sound” amounted to at most one-fifth of total variance indicating that the differences between the aircraft sounds are rather small. Nevertheless, the findings demonstrate that it is possible to measure not all but several decisive aspects with sufficient reliability and expense.     

Noise within the social context: annoyance reduction through fair procedures

The social context of noise exposure is a codeterminant of noise annoyance. The present study shows that fairness of the exposure procedure (sound management) can be used as an instrument to reduce noise annoyance. In a laboratory experiment (N = 117) participants are exposed to aircraft sound of different sound pressure level (SPL: 50 vs 70 dB A)--which is experienced as noise--while they work on a reading task. The exposure procedure (fair versus neutral) is modeled in line with findings from social justice theory. In the fair condition, participants can voice their preference for a certain sound sample, although they cannot deduce whether their preference is granted. In the neutral condition, participants are not asked to voice their preference. Results show the predicted interaction effect of sound pressure level and procedure on annoyance: Annoyance ratings are significantly lower in the fair condition than in the neutral condition, but this effect is found only in the 70 dB condition. When the SPL is considerably disturbing, fair procedures reduce noise annoyance. Consequences of the reported findings for both theory and practice are discussed.