Showing papers on "Annoyance published in 2003"

The effects of noise on children at school: a review

Abstract: This paper reviews research on issues relating to the effects of noise on children at school. Areas covered include factors affecting speech intelligibility in the classroom; the effects of environmental and classroom noise on children's academic performance; children's annoyance due to noise; and surveys of classroom noise levels. Consistencies and discrepancies between the results of various studies are highlighted. The paper concludes by outlining some current acoustic standards for classrooms.

Noise sensitivity and reactions to noise and other environmental conditions

Abstract: This article integrates findings from the literature and new results regarding noise sensitivity. The new results are based on analyses of 28 combined datasets (N=23 038), and separate analyses of a large aircraft noise study (N=10939). Three topics regarding noise sensitivity are discussed, namely, its relationship with noise exposure, its working mechanism, and the scope of its influence. (1) A previous review found that noise sensitivity has no relationship with noise exposure. The current analyses give consistent results, and show that there is at most a very weak positive relationship. (2) It was observed earlier that noise sensitivity alters the effect of noise exposure on noise annoyance, and does not (only) have an additive effect. The current analyses confirm this, and show that the relation of the annoyance score with the noise exposure is relatively flat for nonsensitives while it is steeper for sensitives. (3) Previous studies showed that noise sensitivity also influences reactions other than noise annoyance. The current analyses of the aircraft noise study extend these results, but also indicate that noise sensitivity has relatively little influence on reactions to nonenvironmental conditions. © 2003 Acoustical Society of America.

Health status as a potential effect modifier of the relation between noise annoyance and incidence of ischaemic heart disease

Abstract: Aims: Traffic noise is a psychosocial stressor. Epidemiological studies suggest chronic noise stress to be a risk factor for cardiovascular disorders. Methods: In a prospective cohort study, the association between annoyance and disturbances due to road traffic noise and the incidence of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) was studied in 3950 middle aged men. Results: Depending on the questionnaire item, non-significant odds ratios for IHD incidence ranging from 0.9 to 1.4 were found for the highly noise annoyed/disturbed subjects when compared with the less annoyed/disturbed subjects, over the six year follow up period. However, this relation was strongly modified by the prevalence of pre-existing chronic diseases. In subjects free of any chronic disease at the beginning of the follow up, significant odds ratios between 1.7 and 3.0 were seen. In the subgroup with chronic diseases no such noise effects were seen. This surprising result of no effect in the group of people with a potential risk, due to pre-existing health problems, may be because of the dilution of the true effect due to recall bias. Conclusions: Annoyance and disturbance due to road traffic noise is associated with a higher incidence of IHD. Prevalence of disease can be an important effect modifier of the relation between noise annoyance and health outcomes.

Qualitative responses of children to environmental noise.

Abstract: Results from recent quantitative research consistently demonstrate that children are a high risk group, vulnerable to the adverse effects of noise exposure, especially effects on cognitive performance, motivation and annoyance. The aims of the two qualitative studies reported in this paper are to explore children's a) perception of noise exposure; b) perceived risk of and attitudes towards noise pollution; c) coping strategies; and d) the annoyance response. The Millennium Conference Study involved focus group interviews with an international sample (n=36) unselected by exposure. The West London Schools Study involved individual interviews, conducted with a purposively selected sample (n=18) exposed to aircraft noise. The children in the focus groups reported being most affected by neighbours' noise and road traffic noise, whereas children exposed to aircraft noise were most affected by aircraft noise. As expected, the impact of noise pollution on everyday activities (e.g. schoolwork, homework and playing) was larger for the children exposed to high levels of aircraft noise compared with the low noise exposed children and focus group samples. The range of coping strategies that children employed to combat noise exposure in their lives was dependent upon the amount of control they had over the noise source. The emotional response of children describing the annoyance reaction to noise was consistent with adult reactions and it would seem that child noise annoyance is the same construct. Future research should employ qualitative methods to supplement quantitative investigations.

Assessment of annoyance from low frequency and broadband noises.

Abstract: Objectives: It has been shown that low frequency noise (LFN), defined as broadband noise with dominant content of low frequencies (10–250 Hz), may be annoying to exposed subjects. The aim of the study was to compare the degree of annoyance caused by LFN with that caused by broadband noise (BBN) without dominant low frequency components at similar A-weighted sound pressure levels. Materials and Methods: Subjects included in the study were 145 male employees of the control rooms. They were exposed to noise through headphones at gradually increasing dB A-weighted sound pressure levels within the range of 62–84 dB. Annoyance rating was based on a 100-score graphical scale. Results: LFN was rated as significantly more annoying than BBN at the comparable A-weighted sound pressure levels. The annoyance assessment of either noise did not depend on age, length of employment or the level of exposure to noise at a current workplace. Conclusions: LFN represents a higher risk of influencing human well-being than regular BBN and should be considered in the occupational exposure assessment.

Assessment of community noise problem in Greater Beirut Area, Lebanon.

Abstract: Over the last two decades, urban noise has been increasing rapidly, primarily in urban areas, due to population growth and the increase of certain noise sources. The main objective of this paper is to assess the sources and possible impacts of the community noise problems in Lebanese urban areas, particularly the Greater Beirut Area. The causes and effects of community noise pollution are briefly presented. Sound pressure levels that were measured to define existing noise exposure levels in various locations in the Greater Beirut Area are also presented. The attitudes toward noise pollution and perceived annoyance impact on a sample of 1,038 exposed residents are described. The association between measured noise levels and sources, as well as annoyance, is examined using correlation analysis and linear and multiple linear regressions. A set of recommendations is presented to reduce community noise problem in Greater Beirut Area.

A- and C-weighted sound levels as predictors of the annoyance caused by shooting sounds, for various façade attenuation types

Abstract: In a previous study on the annoyance caused by a great variety of shooting sounds [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 109, 244–253 (2001)], it was shown that the annoyance, as rated indoors with the windows closed, could be adequately predicted from the outdoor A-weighted and C-weighted sound-exposure levels [ASEL (LAE) and CSEL (LCE)] of the impulse sounds. The explained variance in the mean ratings by (outdoor) ASEL was significantly increased by adding the product (LCE−LAE)(LAE) as a second variable. In the present study it was investigated to which extent the additional contribution of the second predictor is also relevant for facade attenuation types with lower and higher degrees of sound isolation than applied previously. Twenty subjects rated the indoor annoyance caused by 11 different impulse types produced by firearms ranging in caliber from 7.62 to 155 mm, at various levels and for five facade attenuation conditions. The effect of facade attenuation on the ratings was large and consistent. In all conditions, a...

Perceptual contributions of blocky, blurry and noisy artifacts to overall annoyance

Abstract: In this paper, we create synthetic artifacts that are perceived to be predominantly blocky, blurry or noisy. We present them alone or in various combinations and have subjects rate the perceived strength of each artifact and the overall annoyance of the combined artifacts. We found that a simple linear model with no interactions predicted how the perceived artifacts combine to determine overall annoyance. The estimated coefficients indicate that, when the artifacts are equated in perceived strength, blurriness contributes the most to annoyance followed by noise and then blockiness, although the relative weights of blockiness and noise vary with the video content.

Sound Levels in Classrooms and Effects on Self-Reported Mood among School Children

Abstract: The principle of this field study is an investigation of recorded sound levels in 24 classrooms and relations between sound level measures and aspects of children's rated annoyance, task orientation, and inattentiveness. The background sound-exposure levels were distributed within the interval of 33-42 dB(A)eq and the activity sound level exposure ranged between 47-68 dB(A)eq. The recorded levels must be considered as high for work environments where steady concentration and undisturbed communication is essential. Results do not support the hypothesis that lower background-sound level and fewer students per class would improve the sound environment by generating a lower activity noise or the hypothesis that higher sound levels should increase annoyance and inattentiveness as well as deteriorate task orientation ratings.

A descriptive cross-sectional study of annoyance from low frequency noise installations in an urban environment.

Abstract: In order to improve the living conditions for respondents highly exposed to traffic noise, it has been recommended that one side of the building should face a "quiet side". Quiet may, however, be spoilt by noise from installations such as ventilation and air-conditioning systems. The noises generated by installations of this kind often have a dominant portion of low frequencies (20-200 Hz) and may be a source of great annoyance and sleep disturbance. This paper describes the cross-sectional part of an intended intervention study among residents exposed to traffic noise on one side of the building and to low frequency noise from installations on the other side of the building. A questionnaire masked as a general living environment study was delivered to a randomly selected person in each household. In total 41 respondents answered the questionnaire (71% response rate). Noise from installations was measured indoors in a bedroom facing the courtyard in a selection of apartments and outdoors in the yard. 24h traffic noise outdoor and indoor levels were calculated. The noise levels from installations were slightly above or at the Swedish recommendations for low frequency noise indoors with the window closed and exceeded the recommendations by about 10 dB SPL when the window was slightly opened. The proportion of persons who reported that they were very or extremely annoyed indoors from noise from installations was more than twice as high as for traffic noise. Installation noise also affected respondents' willingness to have their windows open and to sleep with an open window. The high disturbance of installation noises found in this study indicates the importance of also regulating the noise exposure on the "quiet side" of buildings. Further studies will give a better base for the extent of annoyance and acceptable levels of installation noises.

Noise annoyance modelling using fuzzy rule based systems.

Abstract: This paper presents a model that uses a fuzzy rule based engine to predict noise annoyance reported by individuals in a social survey. The rules are proposed by the human expert and are based on linguistic variables. The approach then adapts the sufficiency degree or certainty of a rule to tune the model to a particular survey. Although all possible relations between exposure, attitudinal, emotional, personal, environmental and social variables are not included in the model as yet, the benefits of the new approach are clearly demonstrated. A major limitation that remains is the varying theoretical and empirical basis of the expert for different subset of annoyance determinants. Future applications may include more accurate predictions of noise annoyance for policy support and extraction of knowledge concerning the construct of annoyance from surveys.

Generating Membership Functions for a Noise Annoyance Model from Experimental Data

Abstract: The success of fuzzy expert systems could be mainly attributed to the inclusion of linguistic terms into their reasoning scheme. This allows reasoning about complex issues within a certain (tolerated) degree of imprecision. Hence, an important issue in the development of such systems is the choice of the membership functions that model the linguistic terms involved in the application. In this chapter we will describe several methods for the construction of these membership functions (which represent information) from measurements obtained in psycholinguistic experiments. Special attention will be paid to the inclusive and the non-inclusive interpretation of linguistic terms. Secondly, these techniques are applied to data gathered in an International Annoyance Scaling Study, where the relationship between more than 20 different linguistic terms and their corresponding noise annoyance level was under survey.

Attitudes Towards and Values of Aircraft Annoyance and Noise Nuisance Attitudes To Aircraft Annoyance Around Airports (5A) - Survey Report

Abstract: This report details an exploratory study applying attitudinal and stated preference techniques to the issue of aircraft noise and annoyance valuation around airports in three European countries. Three different types of stated preference experiment were designed to enable methodological issues to be tested and a range of values to be estimated: • SP1: embeds aircraft noise nuisance within a broader quality of life context. • SP2: offers changes in aircraft movements by aircraft type within specific time periods. • SP3: offers changes in generic aircraft movements by time of day. Our conclusion is that the preferred way forward is to use the quality of life form of SP to establish the absolute valuations and then to use SP approaches which focus on aircraft annoyance to obtain valuations according to factors such as time of day and aircraft type. .

Sugeno integrals for the modelling of noise annoyance aggregation

Abstract: This paper investigates the use of the Sugeno integral for modelling the unconscious aggregation performed by people when trying to rate the discomfort of their living environment. This general annoyance rating is modelled based on known annoyance caused by a number of sources or activities. The approach is illustrated on data of a Flemish survey.

Standardized Noise Annoyance Modifiers in Korean According to the ICBEN Method

Abstract: Recently a number of social surveys on community response to environmental noises have been conducted to summarize response relationship obtained from different areas. Some problems have been pointed out in comparing the result of surveys using verbal scales with different number of categories. ICBEN (International Commission on Biological Environment of Noise) Team 6 planned a international joint study and constructed comparable standardized noise annoyance scales using the same method. In Korea the survey was conducted in four areas such as Seoul, Taejon, Taegu, Kwangju. About 100 subjects participated in each area approximately. Finally five verbal annoyance were constructed as follows; 1 (Jeonhyu), 2 (Jokm), 3 (Bikyojerk), 4 (Ajoo), 5 (Umcheongnage).g

Continuous evaluation of noise uncomfort in a bus

Abstract: A binaural recording, realized inside an autobus running according to a typical urban sequence, has been used in several ways : - first of all, listeners had to continuously assess the annoyance of the using the categorical continuous method, introduced by Weber for the assessment of loudness. It has been proved that this task is achievable by listeners, even if it is a difficult one. This evaluation has allowed to identify the events inducing annoyance; - then, sound extracts representing these annoying events have been numerically modified and assessed by a pair comparison method so as to identify the optimal modification for each of them; - lastly, the whole signal has been modified in accordance with the results of the previous step. Then, other listeners had to assess both original and modified signals in a continuous and global way. This part has shown that the assessment has undoubtedly concerned the annoyance issue and not the sound level one, because individual differences have appeared among the members of the jury. It thus seems possible to use this continuous assessment method so that the temporal hedonic evaluation of a long sequence can be obtained and that the most annoying events can be identified.

Annoyance of Low Frequency Noise (LFN) in the Laboratory Assessed by LFN-Sufferers and Non-Sufferers

Abstract: In a series of listening tests, test subjects listened to eight different environmental low frequency noises to evaluate their loudness and annoyance. The noises were continuous noise with and without tones, intermittent noise, music, traffic noise and low frequency noises with an impulsive character. The noises were presented at LAeq levels of 20, 27.5 and 35 dB. The main group of test subjects (the reference group) comprised eighteen young persons with normal hearing. A special group of four subjects who had reported annoyance due to low frequency noise in their homes was also included. It was found that the special group generally assessed the annoyance of the noises much higher, especially the annoyance at night.

Judgments of speech intelligibility and speech annoyance by mothers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing

Abstract: 14 mothers of children who were deaf or hard of hearing provided magnitude estimation scaling responses for the speech intelligibility and speech annoyance of narrative speech samples produced by children who were deaf or hard of hearing. Analysis indicated that listeners scaled intelligibility and annoyance the same. As samples became more difficult to understand, they also became more annoying to these listeners. Implications for further research are discussed.

Sources of annoyance in close relationships: Sex-related differences in annoyance with partner behaviors. [IF 0.4]

Abstract: The present study is an examination of sex differences in the sources of annoyance that partners in close relationships might experience as a result of each other's behavior To test hypotheses derived from S E Cross and L Madson's (1997) self-construal theory and from D M Buss's (1989) evolutionary psychology-based model, men and women of varying ages and educational levels were asked to rate how annoyed they would be with each of 13 potentially annoying behaviors of their intimate partner Results were consistent with self-construal theory in that relationship-threatening behaviors were more annoying to women than to men and autonomy threatening behaviors were more annoying to men than to women Results were also consistent with evolutionary psychology in that aggressive behaviors were more annoying to women than to men and sexual withholding was relatively more annoying to men than to women Sex differences in annoyance with relationship-threatening, autonomy-threatening, and reproductive