Standardized general-purpose noise reaction questions for community noise surveys: research and a recommendation

There is a need for a model that identifies underlying dimensions of soundscape perception, and which may guide measurement and improvement of soundscape quality With the purpose to develop such a model, a listening experiment was conducted One hundred listeners measured 50 excerpts of binaural recordings of urban outdoor soundscapes on 116 attribute scales The average attribute scale values were subjected to principal components analysis, resulting in three components: Pleasantness, eventfulness, and familiarity, explaining 50, 18 and 6% of the total variance, respectively The principal-component scores were correlated with physical soundscape properties, including categories of dominant sounds and acoustic variables Soundscape excerpts dominated by technological sounds were found to be unpleasant, whereas soundscape excerpts dominated by natural sounds were pleasant, and soundscape excerpts dominated by human sounds were eventful These relationships remained after controlling for the overall soundscape loudness (Zwicker's N(10)), which shows that 'informational' properties are substantial contributors to the perception of soundscape The proposed principal components model provides a framework for future soundscape research and practice In particular, it suggests which basic dimensions are necessary to measure, how to measure them by a defined set of attribute scales, and how to promote high-quality soundscapes

A principal components model of soundscape perception

The sources of human exposure to low-frequency noise and its effects are reviewed. Low-frequency noise is common as background noise in urban environments, and as an emission from many artificial sources: road vehicles, aircraft, industrial machinery, artillery and mining explosions, and air movement machinery including wind turbines, compressors, and ventilation or air-conditioning units. The effects of low-frequency noise are of particular concern because of its pervasiveness due to numerous sources, efficient propagation, and reduced efficacy of many structures (dwellings, walls, and hearing protection) in attenuating low-frequency noise compared with other noise. Intense low-frequency noise appears to produce clear symptoms including respiratory impairment and aural pain. Although the effects of lower intensities of low-frequency noise are difficult to establish for methodological reasons, evidence suggests that a number of adverse effects of noise in general arise from exposure to low-frequency noise: Loudness judgments and annoyance reactions are sometimes reported to be greater for low-frequency noise than other noises for equal sound-pressure level; annoyance is exacerbated by rattle or vibration induced by low-frequency noise; speech intelligibility may be reduced more by low-frequency noise than other noises except those in the frequency range of speech itself, because of the upward spread of masking. On the other hand, it is also possible that low-frequency noise provides some protection against the effects of simultaneous higher frequency noise on hearing. Research needs and policy decisions, based on what is currently known, are considered.

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Sources and effects of low-frequency noise.

To evaluate the quality of available evidence on the effects of environmental noise exposure on sleep a systematic review was conducted. The databases PSYCINFO, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of Science and the TNO Repository were searched for non-laboratory studies on the effects of environmental noise on sleep with measured or predicted noise levels and published in or after the year 2000. The quality of the evidence was assessed using GRADE criteria. Seventy four studies predominately conducted between 2000 and 2015 were included in the review. A meta-analysis of surveys linking road, rail, and aircraft noise exposure to self-reports of sleep disturbance was conducted. The odds ratio for the percent highly sleep disturbed for a 10 dB increase in Lnight was significant for aircraft (1.94; 95% CI 1.61–2.3), road (2.13; 95% CI 1.82–2.48), and rail (3.06; 95% CI 2.38–3.93) noise when the question referred to noise, but non-significant for aircraft (1.17; 95% CI 0.54–2.53), road (1.09; 95% CI 0.94–1.27), and rail (1.27; 95% CI 0.89–1.81) noise when the question did not refer to noise. A pooled analysis of polysomnographic studies on the acute effects of transportation noise on sleep was also conducted and the unadjusted odds ratio for the probability of awakening for a 10 dBA increase in the indoor Lmax was significant for aircraft (1.35; 95% CI 1.22–1.50), road (1.36; 95% CI 1.19–1.55), and rail (1.35; 95% CI 1.21–1.52) noise. Due to a limited number of studies and the use of different outcome measures, a narrative review only was conducted for motility, cardiac and blood pressure outcomes, and for children’s sleep. The effect of wind turbine and hospital noise on sleep was also assessed. Based on the available evidence, transportation noise affects objectively measured sleep physiology and subjectively assessed sleep disturbance in adults. For other outcome measures and noise sources the examined evidence was conflicting or only emerging. According to GRADE criteria, the quality of the evidence was moderate for cortical awakenings and self-reported sleep disturbance (for questions that referred to noise) induced by traffic noise, low for motility measures of traffic noise induced sleep disturbance, and very low for all other noise sources and investigated sleep outcomes.

WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region: A Systematic Review on Environmental Noise and Effects on Sleep.

Publisher Summary Music performance is a large subject that can be approached in many different ways. This chapter focuses on empirical research of music performance and related matters. Most of this research is concerned with Western tonal music and mainly art music. Excellence in music performance involves two major components like a genuine understanding of what the music is about, its structure and meaning, and a complete mastery of the instrumental technique. Evaluation of performance included many studies which are reviewed earlier. Evaluation occurs in the everyday activity of music critics, music teachers, and musicians. An overall evaluation is considered as a weighted function of the evaluations in the specific aspects. In order to maintain the tempo and to achieve perceived synchrony, musicians should therefore play a small amount ahead of the beat they hear. With sharp attacks the delay is less, and instruments with sharp attacks may therefore serve as “beat-definers” for the rest of an ensemble. In addition, some attempts are made to predict evaluation of music performances from the physical characteristics of the performances.

The Performance of Music

1. Acoustical oceanography Models for Propagation Codes Transducer Arrays: structure, data acquisition, signal generation, calibration Sonar MFP Tomography Other Inverse Techniques Signal and Noise Characteristics 2. Active Noise Control Principles of adaptive techniques Plant modeling Sound/vibration field sensing Actuator characteristics and requirements Performance limitations Multi-channel systems Performance and complexity 3. Animal bioacoustics Recording and monitoring systems Models of echolocation Hearing performance and modelling Characteristics of calls Stimuli generation Locating and tracking Archives and Databases of signals 4. Architectural acoustics Room models Measurement of transmissions, absorption, reverberation, etc. Sound fields (definitions, criteria, measurement, typical values) MLS and other coded signals Auralization: Modelling techniques, listening modes, processing requirements, existing systems, performace Artificial reverberation Sound reinforcement Acoustic privacy 5. Audio engineering Transducer modeling Loudspeaker performance characteristics Audio recording and playback formats Audio-visual interaction ADC, DAC, and Codec technologies Multi-channel sound and Virtual audio Restoration Digital audio editing Effects generation 6. Auditory System, Hearing Modeling of hearing Thresholds and Masking Frequency and level discrimination Binaural hearing and spatialization HRTF HATS and other physical models Hearing aids Auditory illusions 7. Education in acoustics 8. Electroacoustics Microphone types and their characteristics Vibration sensors and their characteristics Acoustic actuators and their characteristics Smart sensors and actuators 9. Engineering acoustics 10. Infrasonics Background noise and source signals Sensors and their characteristics Propagation models Event detection Data archiving Source identification 11. Musical Acoustics Computer music synthesis and composition Computer music recognition and analysis Singing voice analysis, synthesis, and processing Instrument measurement, modeling and synthesis Coding and compression of music 12. Noise Noise source modeling Acoustic holography Atmospheric sound propagation Source localization Noise evaluation and Annoyance thresholds 13. Non-linear acoustics Propagation equations and codes Example non-linear systems Parametric array Measurement methods Detection of non-linearities 14. Psychoacoustics Perceptual models Cochlear implants Auditory alarms 15. Seismology Seismic Coda Acoustic Profiling Propagation modes and properties for modeling Seismo-acoustic coupling 16. Speech Characteristics of speech as signals Synthesis Recognition Intelligibility and quality metrics Corpus for tests Coding and compression Display and analysis 17. Strutural acoustics and vibration BEM, FEM, EA, etc. Actuator design and deployment Propagation and radiation Machine diagnostics and prognosis Modeling, measuring and analyzing shock Materials testing 18. Telecomm POTS Wideband Echo supression Hearing aids Handset, Headset, and Wireless standards Systems for handicapped users 19. Ultrasonics

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Handbook of Signal Processing in Acoustics

The method for calculating loudness level proposed by Zwicker is standardized in ISO 532B. This is a graphical procedure and it can be tedious to calculate loudness level by this procedure. Recently, DIN 45631 has been revised including a computer program for calculating loudness level in BASIC which runs on IBM-compatible PC's. Since the NEC PC-9801 series computers are popular in Japan, the program has been modified for the NEC PC-9801 series computers and is introduced in this paper.

Program for calculating loudness according to DIN 45631 (ISO 532B).

The present investigation was designed to examine the most appropriate duration of instantaneous loudness and to find out the relationship between overall loudness and instantaneous loudness using 20-min road traffic noise. Instantaneous loudness was judged using the method of continuous judgment by category. The results suggest that instantaneous loudness is determined by the sound energy averaged during the 2.5-s period preceding each judgment, the duration of which seems to reflect the psychological present. It was also found that overall loudess is not an average of the instantaneous loudness of every moment, but that it is based on the instantaneous loudness above a certain level.

Continuous judgment of level-fluctuating sounds and the relationship between overall loudness and instantaneous loudness

In this paper, effects of irrelevant background speech and speech-simulating noise on working memory were investigated. In two experiments which were carried out in Germany and Japan using the same procedure, with totally 12 volunteers serving as subjects, we tested the long-term effects of habituation to the background sound by repeating the experimental sessions three times with intervals of about one week. Using a serial recall task it could be shown that natural background speech impaired significantly the performance. This result is corresponding with former results found by other researchers. Speechsimulating noise, however, did not reveal any effects. The reasons for this lack of effects are discussed. Most important, however, is the finding that there is clearly no effect of habituation to the background speech. While the over-all performance is improved by repeating the experimental sessions, the effects of the experimental background sounds are stable. This result is interpreted in terms of an information-processing approach to the orienting reflex theory. The practical implications of the results are discussed as well.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ast1980/17/5/17_5_239/_pdf

Irrelevant background speech and human performance: Is there long-term habituation?

The application of Leq as a measure of loudness of various noises is investigated. Nine kinds of noise sources, -aircraft noise, super express train noise, train noise, road traffic noise, speech, music, impulsive noise, artificial level-fluctuating noise and steady state noise-are used as stimuli. The duration is about10sec except for impulsive noise. Four kind levels are used in each noise source, therefore36stimuli are contained in a stimulus series. They are presented in random order and their loudness are judged by magnitude estimation. As a result of experiment, it is found that Leq can be used as a good measure of the loudness of various noises as a first approximation. Strictly speaking, however, there is a slight, but systematical deviation from Leq in PSE's of some noise sources. This fact suggests that it is necessary to add some factors to Leq in order to decide the permissible levels of these noise sources.

Sonoko Kuwano

Papers

Handbook of Signal Processing in Acoustics

Program for calculating loudness according to DIN 45631 (ISO 532B).

Continuous judgment of level-fluctuating sounds and the relationship between overall loudness and instantaneous loudness

Irrelevant background speech and human performance: Is there long-term habituation?

Psychological study on Leq as a measure of loudness of various kinds of noises