Synthesis of social surveys on noise annoyance.

Since noise was first recognized as a serious environmental pollutant, a number of social surveys have been conducted in order to assess the magnitude of the problem and to develop suitable noise ratings, such that, from a measurement of certain physical characteristics of community noise, one could reliably predict the community's subjective response to the noise. Recently, the author has reviewed the data from social surveys concerning the noise of aircraft, street traffic, expressway traffic, and railroads. Going back to the original published data, the various survey noise ratings were translated to day-night average sound level, and an independent judgment was make, where choice was possible, as to which respondents should be counted as "highly annoyed." The results of 11 of these surveys show a remarkable consistency. It is proposed that the average of these curves is the best currently available relationship for predicting community annoyance due to transportation noise of all kinds.     

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.     

城市道路交通噪声烦恼度社会调查

本文以烦恼度为主观反应指标,采用三种5级程度衡量尺度,对西安市内三条主要干道和两类典型交叉口附近区域内的道路交通噪声进行了烦恼度问卷调查。此次调查针对人口统计学因素(性别、年龄、文化程度、身体健康状况)上的个体差异与等级描述词不同的程度尺度可能对道路交通噪声烦恼度调查结果的影响,以及特定路况条件下的噪声烦恼度与不同机动车辆的行驶噪声烦恼度展开了研究。通过对调查数据的分析处理,发现并初步总结出:与选取不同的烦恼度尺度相比,人口统计学因素对调查结果的影响更加显著;人口统计学因素与特定路况条件下的噪声烦恼度及不同机动车辆的行驶噪声烦恼度无明显相关;但不同机动车辆的行驶噪声烦恼度不同,实际研究中需对摩托车噪声加以重视并区别对待。     

考虑噪声烦恼度的机场飞机噪声收费模型和应用研究

随着我国民航运输业的飞速发展,机场噪声影响问题日趋严重。通过向航空公司或旅客收取噪声费来进行治理,是民航发达国家的普遍做法,也是我国未来的发展方向。该文在国外机场飞机噪声收费模型的基础上,提出了基于飞机噪声特性、噪声烦恼度、噪声治理投入费用和资金回收周期等因素的机场噪声收费模型。模型将机场噪声治理费用通过合理的回收周期按一定比例分配到各年度,再根据飞机噪声特性、噪声烦恼度将每年噪声收费分配到每架次飞机(或每位旅客)。飞机噪声特性根据ACI的机场噪声分级R1～R8来确定,噪声烦恼度借助Mamdani模型构建。应用表明,该收费模型关键因素考虑全面,计算方法先进简洁,费率合理。对于噪声较高飞机,夜间起飞收费为1219.06元/架次,客均收费10.16元;对于噪声很低的飞机,昼间着陆收费为66.10元/架次,客均收费仅0.15元。费率确定符合国际民航组织倡导的以支定收原则,有助于形成航空公司/旅客减噪激励机制同时又不致抑制机场航空业务增长。     

Effect of background noise levels on community annoyance from aircraft noise

A study of community annoyance caused by exposures to civil aircraft noise was carried out in 20 sites around Gimpo and Gimhae international airports to investigate the effect of background noise in terms of dose-effect relationships between aircraft noise levels and annoyance responses under real conditions. Aircraft noise levels were mainly measured using airport noise monitoring systems, B&K type 3597. Social surveys were administered to people living within 100 m of noise measurement sites. The question relating to the annoyance of aircraft noise was answered on an 11-point numerical scale. The randomly selected respondents, who were aged between 18 and 70 years, completed the questionnaire independently. In total, 753 respondents participated in social surveys. The result shows that annoyance responses in low background noise regions are much higher than those in high background noise regions, even though aircraft noise levels are the same. It can be concluded that the background noise level is one of the important factors on the estimation of community annoyance from aircraft noise exposure.     

Transportation noise annoyance: Testing of a probabilistic model

This analysis extends the development and testing of a probabilistic model of noise annoyance proposed in an earlier paper [1]. In the model, noise, measured as the level and number of specific events, leads to annoyance through its interference with activities. Testing of the model is based on noise and survey data collected at 56 sites around Toronto International Airport. Logit analysis is used to estimate equations to predict the probabilities of activity interference and annoyance due to road traffic noise and aircraft noise at each site. From these equations, probabilities of high annoyance are predicted and are compared with the proportion of respondents at each site reporting being highly annoyed. For this comparison, the sites are grouped on the basis of having the same 24 hour L_eq. Both predicted and reported annoyance values are consistently higher for aircraft noise than for road traffic noise at the same 24 hour L_eq. The results support the underlying argument of the model that previously reported source differences in dose-response relationships can be explained by using a model based on single event rather than daily average noise measures.     

Road traffic noise - the relationship between noise exposure and noise annoyance in Norway

Exposure-effect relationships between the level of road traffic noise at the most exposed side of a dwelling's façade and the residents' reactions to road traffic noise have been estimated. The relationships are based on five Norwegian socio-acoustic studies featuring 18 study areas from two cities and a total of near 4000 respondents. The survey questionnaires distinguish between noise annoyance experienced right outside the apartment and when indoors. Exposure-effect relationships for all degrees of annoyance are estimated simultaneously from ordinal logit models. These predict road traffic noise annoyance when right outside the apartment and when indoors, respectively, as a function of the road traffic noise level outside the most exposed façade. Separate analyses indicate that Norwegians react stronger to road traffic noise than results from a recent compilation of socio-acoustic surveys would lead one to believe. People having inferior single glazing windows report higher indoor annoyance.     

Evaluating the equivalence of verbal scales and question stems to be used in English and Japanese noise annoyance questions

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the equivalence of noise annoyance scales and questions recommended by Team 6 (Community Response to Noise) of ICBEN for English and Japanese, two strikingly different languages. The first experiment was conducted with bilingual subjects in order to test a key assumption of the method established by ICBEN Team 6 for the development of equivalent noise annoyance scales: subjects who speak different languages interpret the concept of “highest degree” of annoyance similarly. The results indicate that English- and Japanese-speaking subjects do interpret the “highest degree” similarly. The second experiment tested for effects of wording differences. English- and Japanese-speaking subjects were presented with noise annoyance questions of one of three format types. The first type was similar to the question format recommended by ICBEN Team 6. It focused on the degree to which a given noise would “bother, disturb, or annoy” the subject. The second asked subjects to evaluate the “bothersome, annoying, or disturbing” quality of the noise. The third asked how much the noise would “worry, irritate, or concern” the subject. No significant difference was found in responses to the three formats when subjects evaluated noise in laboratory conditions.     

Trends in aircraft noise annoyance: the role of study and sample characteristics

Recently, it has been suggested that the annoyance of residents at a given aircraft noise exposure level increases over the years. The objective of the present study was to verify the hypothesized trend and to identify its possible causes. To this end, the large database used to establish earlier exposure-response relationships on aircraft noise was updated with original data from several recent surveys, yielding a database with data from 34 separate airports. Multilevel grouped regression was used to determine the annoyance response per airport, after which meta-regression was used to investigate whether study characteristics could explain the heterogeneity in annoyance response between airports. A significant increase over the years was observed in annoyance at a given level of aircraft noise exposure. Furthermore, the type of annoyance scale, the type of contact, and the response percentage were found to be sources of heterogeneity. Of these, only the scale factor could statistically account for the trend, although other findings rule it out as a satisfactory explanation. No evidence was found for increased self-reported noise sensitivity. The results are of importance to the applicability of current exposure-annoyance relationships for aircraft noise and provide a basis for decisions on whether these need to be updated.     

关于噪声社会反应测定方法的国际共同研究——中国语噪声调查问题和评价尺度的建构

在有关噪声问题的社会调查中,由于不同的研究者采用了不同的调查问题和反应尺度,使得这些研究结果难以进行比较和借鉴。为了解决这个问题,ICBEN Team 6提出了制订标准的噪声社会反应测定方法的提案。本文就是在国际噪声联合专家研究结果的基础上,尝试建立中国语标准噪声调查问题和5级噪声反应言语尺度。     

Individual differences in noise annoyance and the uncomfortable loudness level

Uncomfortable loudness levels were measured for two groups of subjects with either high or low scores on a noise annoyance questionnaire. The study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage scores of noise annoyance, general annoyance and locus of control were obtained from 122 respondents. Two groups of responders on the noise annoyance questionnaire attended the laboratory for the second stage involving a determination of the uncomfortable loudness level (ULL) by two methods (Békésy and analogue adjustment) and for two types of sound source (white noise and a 1 kHz tone). The key findings from the first stage were that (i) noise annoyance scores were not bimodal, showing no significant deviation from normality, (ii) females showed higher noise annoyance and (iii) both general annoyance and locus of control scales showed significant positive correlations with noise annoyance. Findings from the second stage showed that (i) Békésy determinations gave higher ULL's than those from the analogue adjustment method, (ii) based on annoyance scores, noise-annoyed subjects produced significantly higher ULL's than their less annoyed counterparts but only with the analogue determination with a 1 kHz tone, (iii) females produced markedly lower ULL's than males and (iv) deactivation, locus of control and extroversion were identified as mediating factors in the setting of the ULL. The results were further discussed in terms of methodological differences between this and earlier studies.     

Effect of season and meteorological conditions on community noise annoyance

More than 80 000 residents' responses to transportation noise from 42 studies conducted at different times of year provide statistical estimates of the effects of season and meteorological conditions on community response to noise. The strongest evidence for a seasonal effect comes from 7 years of continuous daily interviewing of nationally representative probability samples in the Netherlands. Long-term annoyance with noise is slightly, but statistically significantly, higher in the summer than in the winter. Analyses of 41 other surveys drawn from diverse countries, climates, and times of year also provide evidence that noise annoyance varies over the year, is increased by temperature, and may be increased by more sunshine, less precipitation, and reduced wind speeds. These findings are not sufficiently precise to determine whether the apparent relationships with meteorological conditions are only the result of seasonal variations or are also the result of differences in the climate at different locations. There is not consistent evidence that the meteorological conditions on the day of the interview or the immediately preceding days have any more effect on long-term noise annoyance measures than do the conditions over the immediately preceding weeks or months.     

Aircraft noise annoyance modeling: Consideration of noise sensitivity and of different annoying acoustical characteristics

Noise annoyance due to aircraft flyover noise was assessed under laboratory conditions. The main objectives of the study were: (i) to identify influential acoustical features of noise annoyance, (ii) to propose noise indices to characterize these acoustical features and (iii) to enhance annoyance models including influential acoustical and non-acoustical variables. Therefore, a verbalization task was performed by the participants of the experiment to collect their whole impression concerning the aircraft flyover noises for which they rated annoyance. This verbalization task highlights that noise annoyance was influenced by three main acoustical features: (i) the spectral content, (ii) the temporal variation and (iii) the perceived sound intensity. Four combinations of noise indices were used to propose multilevel annoyance models, in combination with the individual noise sensitivity. Noise sensitivity was found to highly contribute to annoyance models and should therefore be considered in future studies dealing with noise annoyance due to aircraft noise. Different combinations of noise indices coupled with noise sensitivity were found to be promising for future studies that aim to enhance current annoyance models.     

Choice of Japanese modifiers in noise annoyance scale during exposures to white noise

The linearity of a Japanese verbal scale of annoyance was estimated under real noise exposure. Young healthy adults, 32 male and 132 female were exposed to white noise of 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 dBA in rooms where the exposure levels could be controlled according to contours. The series of noise exposure consisted of three components; white noise, pure-tone for conditioning and silence for evaluating noise. During the exposures the noisiness of each emission was evaluated with the verbal scale and a line-rating scale. The data showed a significant correlation of about 0.9 between the exposure level and the line length on the rating scale. The regression line of the noise level to the line length exhibited a reasonable locus of zero on the line length at the ambient noise level. The rank correlation between the selected modifier and the noise level was nearly 0.8 . When the five modifiers were converted to 1-5 points, respectively, the regression of the line length to the selected modifier revealed an adequate and consistent fitness (coefficient of determination was >0.8). The results suggest that the scale can be used as an equally divided linear scale in community noise research.     

Laboratory study of the influence of noise level and vehicle number on annoyance

A laboratory study has been carried out to examine the relationships between annoyance and the level of road noise made up of background noise with emergent noisy truck passages. The annoyance caused to test persons was examined in experimental situations for periods of 30 minutes. There were two independent variables: the number of truck passages varied from three to 30, and the categories of overall noise level (L_eq for road noise) were 50, 55 and 60 dB(A). Generally, the results showed that for a constant L_eq level, annoyance increases with the number of truck passages as far as a certain threshold, where it tends to stabilize; for a constant number of truck passages, the annoyance increases with the L_eq level. It is found that although the index L_eq is a better criterion of annoyance than the number of truck passages a composite index with the general form αL_eq + β log N nevertheless appears to be more reliable in predictions.     

An investigation on annoyance caused by road-vehicle noise based on the autocorrelation function

The objective of this study is to reveal the cause of noise annoyance based on its perceptual properties.The available physical factors extracted from the autocorrelation function （ACF） were used to explain the primary sensations and representative perceptual properties of road-vehicle noise.Two novel factors,EMD and ESM.used especially for measuring fluctuation and smoothness of the ACF envelope,were proposed.It should be pointed out that ifφ₁ was not the maximum value exceptφ（0）,bothφ_max andτ_max were suggested to be added.Three primary sensations -loudness,pitch,and timbre have been acquired by applying the principal component analysis to ACF factors extracted from 232 noise samples.From 10 subjects, annoyance scale values were investigated using the magnitude estimation approach under wellcontrolled experimental conditions.It is realized that there certainly exist elementary factors for every primary sensation.Different ACF characteristics can induce diverse dominant sensation, which would control or determine the perceptual properties of the noise.The variability of dominant sensation and the priority difference in primary sensations will bring out subjective annoyance.Moreover,the mixture of elementary factors would confuse the auditory features, and induce subjective annoyance.In other words,it is the chaos of perceptual properties that cause and affect noise annoyance.     

An assessment of certain causal models used in surveys on aircraft noise annoyance

The causal relationships which have so far been proposed between aircraft noise exposure, annoyance and certain “psycho-social” variables (fear of aircraft crashing, general attitude towards aviation, etc.), are re-analysed, and it is demonstrated that by using correlational analysis one can arrive at contradictory results. From the sociological surveys undertaken to date, one can derive only an ordered sequence of verbal reactions to aircraft noise, and not a causal sequence between these verbal reactions: the only clear cause of annoyance is the noise itself.It is suggested that future surveys on noise annoyance should include personality tests and health questionnaires, if one wishes to establish reliable causal sequences.     

Testing a theory of aircraft noise annoyance: a structural equation analysis

Previous research has stressed the relevance of nonacoustical factors in the perception of aircraft noise. However, it is largely empirically driven and lacks a sound theoretical basis. In this paper, a theoretical model which explains noise annoyance based on the psychological stress theory is empirically tested. The model is estimated by applying structural equation modeling based on data from residents living in the vicinity of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in The Netherlands. The model provides a good model fit and indicates that concern about the negative health effects of noise and pollution, perceived disturbance, and perceived control and coping capacity are the most important variables that explain noise annoyance. Furthermore, the model provides evidence for the existence of two reciprocal relationships between (1) perceived disturbance and noise annoyance and (2) perceived control and coping capacity and noise annoyance. Lastly, the model yielded two unexpected results. Firstly, the variables noise sensitivity and fear related to the noise source were unable to explain additional variance in the endogenous variables of the model and were therefore excluded from the model. And secondly, the size of the total effect of noise exposure on noise annoyance was relatively small. The paper concludes with some recommended directions for further research.     

Effect of masking noise on cognitive performance and annoyance in open plan offices

Even for low noise levels, employees working in open-plan offices declare they are disturbed by different sound sources and especially by intelligible speech. This paper presents two experiments that aim at studying the effects of sound sources on task performance and cognitive load. In the first experiment, thirty-five individuals were assigned a serial memory task in four noise conditions: printers, intelligible speech, non-intelligible speech and phone rings. Noise annoyance was assessed by measuring task performance and cognitive workload (NASA-TLX). Although there was no significant difference between intelligible speech, unintelligible speech and phone ring tone signals in terms of annoyance, the performance in a memory task decreased in the presence of intelligible speech. In the second experiment, the relevance of a new intelligibility index was evaluated. This index was derived from eSII as defined by Rhebergen et al. (2006) to deal with fluctuating noise as speech babble. Fifty-five subjects performed a serial memory task in four STIt (time varying Speech Transmission Index calculated for every 12.5 ms in dynamic environment) conditions (from 0.38 to 0.69) while STI values were kept constant (around 0.36). No significant difference appeared between the decreases in performance observed with multiple levels of intelligibility. However, a significant difference between two groups of individuals appeared in performance measurements. The group of better performers seemed to be less affected by the high level of intelligibility condition than the other ones.