The technical performance of recent automobiles is highly progressed and standardized across different manufacturers. This study seeks to derive a semantic space of engine acceleration sound quality for end users and identify the relation with sound characteristics. For this study, two affective attributes: ‘refined’ and ‘powerful’, and eight acoustic parameters considering revolutions per minute were used to determine the correlation coefficient for those affective attributes. In the experiment, a total of 35 automobiles were selected. Each of the 3rd gear wide open throttle sounds was recorded and evaluated by 42 adult subjects with normal hearing ability and driving license. Their subjective evaluations were analyzed using factor analysis, independent t-test, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The prediction models for the affective dimensions show distinct differences for the revolutions per minute. From the experiment, it was confirmed that the customers’ affective response can be predicted through the acoustic parameters. In addition, it was found that the initial revolutions per minute in the accelerated condition had the greatest influence on the affective response. This study can be a useful guideline to design engine acceleration sounds that satisfy customers’ affective experience.

A Study on Affective Dimensions to Engine Acceleration Sound Quality Using Acoustic Parameters

There are numerous works on availability studies, among others. In [3] a general overview of main strategies and technical steps which should be taken when designing an optimum public transportation system. Operational availability as a characteristic of transportation systems is used for analysis of so-called fast reaction systems in random moments of operations (t), for example air force, emergency medical services, fire brigades or public transportation systems [5]. Analysis of availability of different systems has been researched into by many studies in recent years. Nowadays it is applied in many sectors of the industry, including aircraft and defense sectors as well as power engineering and transportation. In [5] the authors present the possibilities of application of the RAM (Reliability, Availability and Maintainability) model in industry to identify unreliable devices with respect to operation-related frequent failures or requirements. In [23] the authors investigate the dependencies between availability and maintainability of transportation modes and the costs of unplanned breaks and vehicle operation. The authors developed an economically-optimum model of implementation for inspection and technical services that was based on current data on vehicle damage. The study [19] examined several scenarios regarding the reliability of buses and repair service employees’ shift system in a transport company to increase the vehicle’s availability and reduce costs of the whole system regarding its disturbance at vehicle failure. In [18] and [28] the authors present an optimization model of public transportation considering the design of transit routes, selection of modes of transportation and timetables. The study [24] presents a method of designing the availability of technological objects, and in [10] a theory pertaining to semi-Markov processes was used based on the authentic municipal transport system. In [2] the authors identified the object’s aptitude condition, and thus optimal control processes of operation and service of particular objects on the example of public transportation bus engines. In [27] the authors present different methods applied to estimate a functional form between overall quality of service and explanatory variables, including questionnaire items related to satisfaction accessibility (availability, information, time characteristics of service, customer service, comfort, safety, infrastructure and environment). The operational availability index was mainly used for bus schedule reliability and current monitoring of transportation systems, especially vehicle punctuality [3, 4, 26] however, it was not often used to control quality management systems and maintenance of a given make of a vehicle. The municipal transport company should assure a continuous monitoring on maintenance process in terms of current availability of used fleet. Resting on this assumption, the authors of the paper conducted studies on operational availability of buses of the selected makes from Joanna RymARz Andrzej NiewczAs Aneta KRzyżAK

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Comparison of operational availability of public city buses by analysis of variance

Resumo: O objetivo do trabalho foi desenvolver um sistema de apoio a avaliacao da poluicao sonora, aplicado na zona central de Rio Claro, Sao Paulo, Brasil. Para isso, dados foram obtidos por meio de medicoes sonoras e entrevistas com a populacao, gerando como indicadores o nivel sonoro equivalente (Leq ), o indice de ruido de trafego (LTNI ) e um diagnostico participativo (Dp ), integrados por intermedio de um sistema de inferencia fuzzy (SIF). Como resultado, o sistema proposto permitiu classificar os pontos avaliados quanto ao grau de impacto da poluicao sonora sobre a saude da populacao (IPS ) na area de estudo, que pode ser considerado significativo em 31,4% dos pontos e muito significativo em 62,9%. A possibilidade de adequar o SIF de acordo com as condicoes de estudo viabiliza a sua generalizacao e, desta forma, apoia a avaliacao e respectiva gestao do ruido ambiental em outras regioes.

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A system for evaluating the impact of noise pollution on the population's health

Resumo A dor musculoesqueletica em profissionais do setor de transporte tem sido relacionada as condicoes de trabalho. Objetivou-se estimar a prevalencia de dor cervical e sua relacao com a dor em outros sitios (bracos, maos e ombros). Verificou-se a associacao entre dor no pescoco, relacionada ou nao a dor nos outros sitios, com os fatores ocupacionais. Estudo transversal, descritivo e analitico. Foram entrevistados 799 motoristas e 708 cobradores de onibus da Regiao Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte, Brasil. Para o desfecho foi considerada a resposta sobre a existencia de dor por sitio anatomico. A prevalencia de dor musculoesqueletica no pescoco foi de 16,3%. Para ombros, bracos e maos foram 15,4%, 13,3% e 6,3%, respectivamente. Aqueles com dor no pescoco apresentaram maiores prevalencias de dores nas demais areas estudadas. Os fatores associados a dor musculoesqueletica foram sexo feminino, relato de incapacidade, percepcao de ameaca a seguranca, vibracao, ruido elevado ou insuportavel e adocao de postura desconfortavel. Os resultados indicaram a elaboracao de pistas para transformacao do ambiente de trabalho, de maneira a contribuir para a promocao da saude dos trabalhadores.

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[Musculoskeletal pain among bus drivers and fare collectors in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, Brazil].

To characterize noise exposure of riders on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) trains, we measured noise levels twice on each segment of 7 of the 8 CTA train lines, which are named after colors, yielding 48 time-series measurements. We found the Blue Line has the highest noise levels compared to other train lines, with mean 76.9 dBA; and that the maximum noise level, 88.9 dBA occurred in the tunnel between the Chicago and Grand stations. Train segments involving travel through a tunnel had significantly higher noise levels than segments with travel on elevated and ground level tracks. While 8-hr doses inside the passenger cars were not estimated to exceed occupational exposure limits, train operators ride in a separate cab with operational windows and may therefore have higher noise exposures than riders. Despite the low risk of hearing loss for riders on CTA trains, in part because transit noise accounts for a small part of total daily noise exposure, 1-min average noise levels exceeded 85 dBA at ti...

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Chicago transit authority train noise exposure

In the present study, we evaluated annoyance and the effects of noise on the health of bus drivers. For that, 200 bus drivers from a public transport company participated in a cross-sectional study. Annoyance and effects on health was measured with analog scale: Sleep quality, occurrence of tinnitus, headache, irritation, and annoyance from bus engine, traffic, and passengers. Data of age and working time of bus drivers also were obtained. For noise exposure, LA eq was evaluated in 80 buses. Statistical analysis consisted of mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum, Kruskal-Wallis test with post-hoc Dunn, one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey and Spearman's correlation coefficient. Results indicate three groups of bus drivers (not annoyed: (N.A.), a little annoyed (L.A.) and highly annoyed (H.A.)). The group H.A. was younger and with less working time in relation to others, with a significant difference only for age. Regarding sleep quality, there was no significant difference. For results on the occurrence of tinnitus, headache and irritation after work, group H.A. had significantly higher means. Result of annoyance to the bus engine was significantly higher in H.A. than in L.A. and N.A. Annoyance to traffic and passengers, no significant differences were found, but the highest results were found for L.A., followed by H.A. and N.A. Equivalent sound pressure level in buses was above of the limit for occupational comfort. It was concluded that bus drivers has considerable level of noise annoyance and some health effects are perceived. The noise is a factor discomfort ergonomic that may cause effects on health of bus drivers. This study aims to evaluate annoyance and the effects of noise on the health of bus drivers. Cross-sectional study with buses and bus drivers. For that, 200 bus drivers from a public transport company participated in a cross-sectional study. Annoyance and effects on health was measured with analog scale: Sleep quality, occurrence of tinnitus, headache, irritation and annoyance from bus engine, traffic, and passengers. Data of age and working time of bus drivers also were obtained. For noise exposure, LA eq was evaluated in 80 buses. Statistical analysis consisted of mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum, Kruskal-Wallis test with post-hoc Dunn, one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey and Spearman's correlation coefficient. Results indicate three groups of bus drivers (N.A., a L.A. and H.A.). The group H.A. was younger and with less working time in relation to others, with a significant difference only for age. Regarding sleep quality, there was no significant difference. For results on the occurrence of tinnitus, headache and irritation after work, group H.A. had significantly higher means. Result of annoyance to the bus engine was significantly higher in H.A. than in L.A. and N.A. Annoyance to traffic and passengers, no significant differences were found, but the highest results were found for L.A., followed by H.A. and N.A. Equivalent sound pressure level in buses was above of the limit for occupational comfort. It was concluded that bus drivers has considerable level of noise annoyance and some health effects are perceived.

Zannin H T Paulo

Papers

Annoyance evaluation and the effect of noise on the health of bus drivers.