Showing papers on "Annoyance published in 2010"
TL;DR: It was shown that the perception of acoustic comfort and loudness was strongly related to the annoyance, and water sounds were determined to be the best sounds to use for enhancing the urban soundscape.
Abstract: In this study, urban soundscapes containing combined noise sources were evaluated through field surveys and laboratory experiments. The effect of water sounds on masking urban noises was then examined in order to enhance the soundscape perception. Field surveys in 16 urban spaces were conducted through soundwalking to evaluate the annoyance of combined noise sources. Synthesis curves were derived for the relationships between noise levels and the percentage of highly annoyed (%HA) and the percentage of annoyed (%A) for the combined noise sources. Qualitative analysis was also made using semantic scales for evaluating the quality of the soundscape, and it was shown that the perception of acoustic comfort and loudness was strongly related to the annoyance. A laboratory auditory experiment was then conducted in order to quantify the total annoyance caused by road traffic noise and four types of construction noise. It was shown that the annoyance ratings were related to the types of construction noise in combination with road traffic noise and the level of the road traffic noise. Finally, water sounds were determined to be the best sounds to use for enhancing the urban soundscape. The level of the water sounds should be similar to or not less than 3 dB below the level of the urban noises.
226 citations
TL;DR: The analysis showed no relationship between neither noise exposure nor response to noise and cardiovascular problems, and showed strong links among pseudoneurological complaints, annoyance and sleeping problems, thus pointing to the importance of including information on psychosomatic disorders and mild psychological problems in future studies looking at potential health effects of noise.
190 citations
TL;DR: Noise sensitivity was associated with health-related quality of life; annoyance and sleep disturbance mediated the effects of noise sensitivity on health.
Abstract: The relationship between environmental noise and health is poorly understood but of fundamental importance to public health. This study estimated the relationship between noise sensitivity, noise annoyance and health-related quality of life in a sample of adults residing close to the Auckland International Airport, New Zealand. A small sample (n = 105) completed surveys measuring noise sensitivity, noise annoyance, and quality of life. Noise sensitivity was associated with health-related quality of life; annoyance and sleep disturbance mediated the effects of noise sensitivity on health.
151 citations
TL;DR: A novel no-reference metric that can automatically quantify ringing annoyance in compressed images is presented and shows to be highly consistent with subjective data.
Abstract: A novel no-reference metric that can automatically quantify ringing annoyance in compressed images is presented. In the first step a recently proposed ringing region detection method extracts the regions which are likely to be impaired by ringing artifacts. To quantify ringing annoyance in these detected regions, the visibility of ringing artifacts is estimated, and is compared to the activity of the corresponding local background. The local annoyance score calculated for each individual ringing region is averaged over all ringing regions to yield a ringing annoyance score for the whole image. A psychovisual experiment is carried out to measure ringing annoyance subjectively and to validate the proposed metric. The performance of our metric is compared to existing alternatives in literature and shows to be highly consistent with subjective data.
150 citations
TL;DR: Noise sensitivity was found to influence total noise annoyance and aircraft noise annoyance but to a lesser degree annoyance due to road traffic noise, and was associated with reported physical health, but not with reported mental health.
Abstract: One hundred and ninety residents around Frankfurt Airport (46% female; 17-80 years) were interviewed concerning noise annoyance due to transportation noise (aircraft, road traffic), perceived mental and physical health, perceived environmental quality, and noise sensitivity. The aim of the analyses was to test whether noise sensitivity reflects partly general environmental sensitivity and is associated with an elevated susceptibility for the perception of mental and physical health. In this study, the reported physical and mental health variables were not associated with noise exposure but with noise annoyance, and were interpreted to reflect nonspecific codeterminants of annoyance rather than noise effects. Noise sensitivity was found to influence total noise annoyance and aircraft noise annoyance but to a lesser degree annoyance due to road traffic noise. Noise sensitivity was associated with reported physical health, but not with reported mental health. Noise-sensitive persons reported poorer environmental quality in their residential area than less sensitive persons in particular with regard to air traffic (including the facets noise, pollution, and contaminations) and quietness. Other aspects of the perceived quality of the environment were scarcely associated with noise sensitivity. This indicates that noise sensitivity is more specific and a reliable predictor of responses to noise from the dominant source (in this case air traffic) rather than a predictor of the individual perception of the environmental quality in general.
123 citations
TL;DR: Results indicate that greenery perception exerts considerable influence on noise annoyance rated at home and wetland parks and garden parks are shown to be able to reduce noise annoyance to a greater degree than grassy hills.
91 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest a recursive relationship between noise and health, yet this cannot be tested in cross-sectional studies, and longitudinal studies would be recommendable to get more insight in the causal paths underlying the noise-health relationship.
Abstract: In a survey of 2,312 residents living near Frankfurt Airport aircraft noise annoyance and disturbances as well as environmental (EQoL) and health-related quality of life (HQoL) were assessed and compared with data on exposure due to aircraft, road traffic, and railway noise. Results indicate higher noise annoyance than predicted from general exposure-response curves. Beside aircraft sound levels source-related attitudes were associated with reactions to aircraft noise. Furthermore, aircraft noise affected EQoL in general, although to a much smaller extent. HQoL was associated with aircraft noise annoyance, noise sensitivity and partly with aircraft noise exposure, in particular in the subgroup of multimorbid residents. The results suggest a recursive relationship between noise and health, yet this cannot be tested in cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal studies would be recommendable to get more insight in the causal paths underlying the noise-health relationship.
89 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored if road traffic sound could mask wind turbine sound or increase annoyance due to wind turbine noise, and found that road traffic sounds did not increase annoyance with wind turbine noises.
80 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a non-linear multi-objective optimal control problem is implemented and numerically solved obtaining minimal annoyance trajectories, where the annoyance is expressed in function of the maximum perceived noise level, the period of the day when the trajectory takes place and the type of area over-flown.
Abstract: This paper presents a strategy for designing noise abatement procedures aimed at reducing the global annoyance perceived by the population living around the airports. A non-linear multi-objective optimal control problem is implemented and numerically solved obtaining minimal annoyance trajectories. Annoyance criteria are treated as non-linear functions that can be obtained by using fuzzy logic modelling techniques. Here, a basic implementation is shown where the annoyance is expressed in function of the maximum perceived noise level, the period of the day when the trajectory takes place and the type of area over-flown. Then, lexicographic optimisation techniques are used to deal with the multi-criteria nature of the problem. Finally, an illustrative example is given concerning a hypothetical scenario with five different noise sensitive locations and where different optimal trajectories are obtained for different hours of the day.
74 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a quantification model concerning overall dissatisfaction from multiple noise sources in residential buildings and underlying assumptions were presented, which can be used to assess the associated overall dissatisfaction of the indoor noise environment on the basis of the level of individual sources.
62 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: 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 and a significant increase over the years in annoyance was observed.
Abstract: This study assesses the effects of aircraft noise on residential satisfaction, an important indicator of subjective well-being. A structural equation model is specified that estimates the relationships between objective variables, noise annoyance variables and residential satisfaction. Secondary data-analysis is used to estimate the model. The survey was conducted in 1996/1997 among the population living within a 25-km radius of Amsterdam Schiphol, the largest airport in the Netherlands. The effect of aircraft noise annoyance is found to be relatively small. In addition, the objective level of aircraft noise exposure is found to be a better predictor of residential satisfaction than its subjective counterpart. The most important determinants of residential satisfaction are found to be road traffic noise annoyance, age and neighbor noise annoyance. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of aircraft noise on residential satisfaction, an important indicator of subjective well-being, were assessed. But the effect of aircraft Noise annoyance was found to be relatively small.
Abstract: This study assesses the effects of aircraft noise on residential satisfaction, an important indicator of subjective well-being. A structural equation model is specified that estimates the relationships between objective variables, noise annoyance variables and residential satisfaction. Secondary data-analysis is used to estimate the model. The survey was conducted in 1996/1997 among the population living within a 25-km radius of Amsterdam Schiphol, the largest airport in the Netherlands. The effect of aircraft noise annoyance is found to be relatively small. In addition, the objective level of aircraft noise exposure is found to be a better predictor of residential satisfaction than its subjective counterpart. The most important determinants of residential satisfaction are found to be road traffic noise annoyance, age and neighbor noise annoyance.
11 Jul 2010
TL;DR: In this article, a subjective experiment was conducted in which human observers rated the annoyance of the distortions in the videos and found that distortion in a salient region is indeed perceived as much more annoying as compared to distortions in a non-salient region.
Abstract: In this paper, distortions caused by packet loss during video transmission are evaluated with respect to their perceived annoyance. In this respect, the impact of visual saliency on the level of annoyance is of particular interest, as regions and objects in a video frame are typically not of equal importance to the viewer. For this purpose, gaze patterns from a task free eye tracking experiment were utilised to identify salient regions in a number of videos. Packet loss was then introduced into the bit stream such as that the corresponding distortions appear either in a salient region or in a non-salient region. A subjective experiment was then conducted in which human observers rated the annoyance of the distortions in the videos. The outcomes show a strong tendency that distortions in a salient region are indeed perceived as much more annoying as compared to distortions in the non-salient region. The saliency of the distorted image content was further found to have a larger impact on the perceived annoyance as compared to the distortion duration. The findings of this work are considered to be of great use to improve prediction performance of video quality metrics in the context of transmission errors.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors study the perception and annoyance of waste odour among residents in relation to distance from the large-scale source and find that residents living within 5 km from the boundaries of five waste treatment centers were interviewed by telephone.
Abstract: Decomposition of biodegradable waste in municipal waste centers may produce odor emissions and subsequently cause discomfort to nearby residents. The public health importance of the resulting nuisance has not been sufficiently characterized. The aim of this study was to study the perception and annoyance of waste odor among residents in relation to distance from the large-scale source. In 2006, 1142 randomly selected residents living within 5 km from the boundaries of five waste treatment centers were interviewed by telephone. These centers were landfilling municipal waste and composting source-separated biowaste and/or sludge. The questionnaire consisted of 102 items containing questions on perceived environmental nuisance. Odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated adjusting for sex and age. The proportion of respondents perceiving odor varied by center and distance (< 1.5 km: 66-100%; 1.5 to < 3 km: 13-84%; 3 to < 5 km: 2-64%). The pooled OR for odor annoyance was 6.1 (95% CI 3.7-10) in the intermediate and 19 (95% CI 12-32) in the innermost zone compared with residents in the outermost zone. Intensity of odor characterized as very strong or fairly strong affected odor annoyance more than weekly or more frequently perceived odor. The high level of odor perception and annoyance in residents living near waste treatment centers draws attention to the need to prevent odor nuisance constricting emission peaks and frequent emissions. Because odors may affect fairly distant (even 1.5 to < 3 km) residential areas, planning of the locations of waste treatment operations is essential.
TL;DR: The results fit the hypothesis that reduced subjective health, over the course of time, may be attributed to environmental factors.
TL;DR: Indicators are proposed here that allow good prediction of noise annoyance by taking into account spectral features in industrial noises comprising six categories.
Abstract: In the study of noises generated by industrial sources, one issue is the variety of industrial noise sources and consequently the complexity of noises generated. Therefore, characterizing the environmental impact of an industrial plant requires better understanding of the noise annoyance caused by industrial noise sources. To deal with the variety of industrial sources, the proposed approach is set up by type of spectral features and based on a perceptive typology of steady and permanent industrial noises comprising six categories. For each perceptive category, listening tests based on acoustical factors are performed on noise annoyance. Various indicators are necessary to predict noise annoyance due to various industrial noise sources. Depending on the spectral features of the industrial noise sources, noise annoyance indicators are thus assessed. In case of industrial noise sources without main spectral features such as broadband noise, noise annoyance is predicted by the A-weighted sound pressure level L(Aeq) or the loudness level L(N). For industrial noises with spectral components such as low-frequency noises with a main component at 100 Hz or noises with spectral components in middle frequencies, indicators are proposed here that allow good prediction of noise annoyance by taking into account spectral features.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated how the time structure of a road-traffic affects the noise annoyance judgment and found that there is a significant difference in annoyance judgment for different traffic structures with the same LAeq,T value.
Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate how the time structure of a road-traffic affects the noise annoyance judgment. In a psychoacoustic experiment, the listeners judged noise annoyance of four road-traffic noise scenarios with identical numbers of vehicles and LAeq,T value but different time structure of a road traffic. The traffic structure varied from even to highly clustered across different scenarios. The scenarios were created in the laboratory from a large set of a single vehicle pass-by recordings. The scenarios were additionally filtered with filters corresponding to a typical window transfer function to simulate the situation inside the building. The experimental results showed that there is a significant difference in annoyance judgment for different traffic structures with the same LAeq,T value. The highest annoyance ratings were obtained for even traffic distribution and the most clustered distribution resulted in the lowest annoyance rating. These results correlated well with the averaged loudness, whereas the percentile loudness (N5) and level (L5) predict the opposite results.
TL;DR: It cannot be ruled out that the appraisal of the noise affects the association between air and road traffic noise exposure and children's health and cognition, but the conclusion is limited due to the relatively small group of annoyed children, which may have influenced group comparisons.
Abstract: On the basis of this study it cannot be ruled out that the appraisal of the noise affects the association between air and road traffic noise exposure and children's health and cognition. However, the conclusion is limited due to the relatively small group of annoyed children, which may have influenced our group comparisons. Furthermore, the observed relation between annoyance and perceived health is possibly biased due to the fact that both were measured within the same questionnaire. These are the main conclusions of a cross-sectional multi-center study carried out among 2,844 schoolchildren (age 9-11 years) attending 89 primary schools around three European airports. The aim was to investigate how annoyance affects the relation between air and road traffic noise exposure and children's health and cognition. Different, sometimes competing, working mechanisms of how noise affects children's health are suggested. Some effects are supposed to be precipitated through (chronic) stress, while others may arise directly. There is still no theory that can adequately account for the circumstances in which noise will affect cognitive performance. © 2010 Acoustical Society of America.
TL;DR: Methodological inadequacies and the need for simpler techniques to record sleep will be considered with the exciting potential to greatly increase cost-effective field data acquisition, which is needed for large scale epidemiological studies.
Abstract: There is growing interest in carrying out further research to understand and reduce the impact of aircraft noise on airport neighborhood in anticipation of the projected substantial increase in global aviation. Soundscapes provide new analytical methods and a broader, more comprehensive appreciation of the aural environment, which may have a useful role in understanding noise-induced sleep disturbance and annoyance. Current noise metrics like Leq do not provide a common language to report noise environment to residents, which is a key obstacle to effective noise management and acceptance. Non-auditory effects complicate the production of consistent dose-response functions for aircraft noise affecting sleep and annoyance. There are various end-points that can be chosen to assess the degree of sleep disturbance, which has detracted from the clarity of results that has been communicated to wider audiences. The World Health Organization (WHO-Europe) has produced Night Noise Guidelines for Europe, which act as a clear guide for airports and planners to work towards. Methodological inadequacies and the need for simpler techniques to record sleep will be considered with the exciting potential to greatly increase cost-effective field data acquisition, which is needed for large scale epidemiological studies.
TL;DR: Annoyance of LFN was not rated higher than annoyance from broadband noises without or with less prominent low frequencies at similar A-weighted SPLs, but it is only the two latter noise metrics which seem to be reliable predictors of annoyance exclusively from LFN.
Abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the annoyance of low frequency noise (LFN) at levels normally prevailing at workplaces in control rooms and office-like areas. Two different laboratory experiments were carried out. The first experiment included 55 young volunteers and the second one comprised 70 older volunteers, categorized in terms of sensitivity to noise. The subjects listened to noise samples with different spectra, including LFNs at sound pressure level (SPL) of 45-67 dBA, and evaluated annoyance using a 100-score graphical rating scale. The subjective ratings of annoyance were compared to different noise metrics. In both the experiments, there were no differences in annoyance assessments between females and males. A significant influence of individual sensitivity to noise on annoyance rating was observed for some LFNs. Annoyance of LFN was not rated higher than annoyance from broadband noises without or with less prominent low frequencies at similar A-weighted SPLs. In both the experiments, median annoyance rating of LFN highly correlated with A-weighted SPL (L(Aeq,T)), low frequency A-weighted SPL (L(LFAeq,T)) and C-weighted SPL (L(Ceq,T)). However, it is only the two latter noise metrics (i.e. L(LFAeq,T) and L(Ceq,T)) which seem to be reliable predictors of annoyance exclusively from LFN. The young and older participants assessed similar annoyance from LFN at similar L(LFAeq,T) or L(Ceq,T) levels. Generally, over half of the subjects were predicted to be highly annoyed by LFN at the low frequency A-weighted SPL or C-weighted SPL above 62 and 83 dB, respectively.
TL;DR: It is suggested that music may be a beneficial intervention to reduce ED noise stress; however, further exploration is needed.
Abstract: High noise levels in the emergency department (ED) affect patient care and cause noise annoyance (stress) to patients. This pilot project aimed to reduce noise stress by offering patients in the ED a coping strategy: headphones and music. In this randomized controlled study, 30 patients meeting study criteria were recruited, with half undergoing the music intervention. This involved listening to music via headphones and an MP3 player from preloaded playlists in four relevant genres. All participants completed a pre- and post-self-report stress tool, a self-report noise disturbance scale, and visual analogue scales related to stress and music. Results showed a trend toward decreased negative affect scores in the intervention group. Positive affect scores remained constant or increased. Individual comments suggested participants’ enjoyment, distraction, and ‘‘escape’’ from the environment. Results suggested that music may be a beneficial intervention to reduce ED noise stress; however, further exploration is needed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the correlation between an-noise level and different noise indices and its impact on residents/community in terms of an- noyance index.
Abstract: Motorized road vehicles are the major source of noise; always responsible for creating annoyance among people. The present study is aimed to investigate the correlation between an- noyance level and different noise indices and its impact on residents/community in terms of an- noyance index. Noise and attitudinal response of local population were carried out at ten com- mercial road networks of the city. To define the noise annoyance quantitatively, a new point scale (i.e. Mean Dissatisfaction Score)(MDS))has been used in the present study , a strong correlation was observed between percentage highly annoyed and various noise indices.
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: In this article, a study on the characterization of the sound quality of transient sounds via fundamental psychoacoustic measures is described, and the overall subjective perception of annoyance for transient sounds was studied.
Abstract: A study on the characterization of the sound quality of transient sounds via fundamental psychoacoustic measures is described in this paper. Specifically, the overall subjective perception of annoyance for transient sounds was studied. Through magnitude estimation and paired comparison jury evaluation experiments, the subjective annoyance magnitudes of 15 transient sounds were determined. For each sound, several objective psychoacoustic measures were calculated, and using simple linear regression models, the relationships between these objective measures and the subjective annoyance magnitudes were investigated. Examined psychoacoustic measures included loudness, sharpness, roughness, fluctuation strength, tonality, and a new loudness-based measure of impulsiveness. The new impulsiveness measure is based on the summation of the magnitudes of impulse-induced peaks in the loudness time history for a sound (calculated according to DIN 45631/A1). The models were analyzed using several statistical measures of model significance and fit. It was found that for the transient sounds studied, significant relationships existed between subjective annoyance and each of the following psychoacoustic measures: loudness, sharpness, roughness, and loudness-based impulsiveness. These four measures were then combined into a single model for predicting subjective annoyance using multiple linear regression analysis. It was found that this model was highly correlated to the subjective annoyance of transient sounds.
TL;DR: The sound exposure level L(E) of shooting noise better explained variations in annoyance than other operational and/or acoustical predictors.
Abstract: This article reports a field study on noise annoyance from military shooting with small, midsize, and heavy weapons that was carried out among 1002 residents living near eight different training grounds of the Swiss army. The goal of the study was to derive the exposure-annoyance relationship for military shooting noise in communities in the vicinity of average military training grounds. Annoyance was determined in a telephone survey by means of the 5-point verbal and 11-point numerical annoyance scale recommended by the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise. Exposure was calculated using acoustical source models of weapons and numbers of shots fired, as recorded by the army. Annoyance predictor variables investigated were LAE, LCE, LCE−LAE, number of shots above threshold, as well as individual moderators. Exposure-annoyance relationships were modeled by means of linear and logistic regression analyses. The sound exposure level LE of shooting noise better explained variations in annoyan...
TL;DR: The results show that measures aiming at the reduction of the proportion of heavy vehicles should additionally consider particular traffic flow, and the role of noise sensitivity in various traffic noise conditions.
Abstract: In built-up areas, an increasing number of persons are affected by road traffic noise while performing mental work. This experimental study focused on annoyance and mental strain due to various noise scenarios. A total of 102 healthy, young persons (51 women, 51 men, aged 18-31 years) were randomly assigned to one of five experimental conditions determined by traffic flow (even, lumped) and traffic composition (20%, 40% heavy vehicles). While exposed to noise they performed a grammatical reasoning and a mathematical processing task. Performance and mental strain were not affected by any of the five noisy conditions. Individuals with high noise sensitivity were partially more annoyed and performed less than persons with low sensitivity. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: The present study provides information about mental strain due to tasks with different cognitive demands and the role of noise sensitivity in various traffic noise conditions. The results show that measures aiming at the reduction of the proportion of heavy vehicles should additionally consider particular traffic flow.
TL;DR: Primary results show that (1) aircraft noise annoyance is very stable through time and (2) that changes in aircraftnoise annoyance and the identified psychological factors are correlated.
Abstract: In this paper, an attempt is made to establish the direction of causality between a range of psychological factors and aircraft noise annoyance. For this purpose, a panel model was estimated within a structural equation modeling approach. Data were gathered from two surveys conducted in April 2006 and April 2008, respectively, among the same residents living within the 45 Level day-evening-night contour of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the largest airport in the Netherlands (n=250). A surprising result is that none of the paths from the psychological factors to aircraft noise annoyance were found to be significant. Yet 2 effects were significant the other way around: (1) from 'aircraft noise annoyance' to 'concern about the negative health effects of noise' and (2) from 'aircraft noise annoyance' to 'belief that noise can be prevented.' Hence aircraft noise annoyance measured at time 1 contained information that can effectively explain changes in these 2 variables at time 2, while controlling for their previous values. Secondary results show that (1) aircraft noise annoyance is very stable through time and (2) that changes in aircraft noise annoyance and the identified psychological factors are correlated.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors quantify religious noise exposure in urban residential neighbourhoods in the Cape Coast metropolis of Ghana using ARCGIS 9.3 software and surface interpolation for the data was carried out using inverse distance weighting.
TL;DR: In this paper, a study was conducted to examine the influence of changes in tonalness on annoyance ratings of aircraft noise and found that the loudness influenced the annoyance ratings significantly.
Abstract: A study was conducted to examine the influence of changes in tonalness on annoyance ratings of aircraft noise. Stimuli used in this study were simulated using a program in which aircraft noise was decomposed into noise and tonal components. From these base components, additional aircraft sounds were created by varying the amplitude of the tonal components in a controlled manner while leaving the other sound attributes relatively unaffected. Two sets of 11 stimuli were generated based on a recording of a flyover after take-off event of an Airbus-310 aircraft. In Set A, tonalness was varied while loudness was kept nearly constant. In Set B, both tonalness and loudness were varied. Forty subjects aged between 19 to 33 years from a university population were recruited for this test. In the test, subjects rated the two sets of stimuli on an annoyance scale. Tonalness of these sounds, as predicted by using Aures' Tonality model, ranged from 0.01 to 0.40. The range was little broader than the range we found in a set of around 40 aircraft recordings around two Florida airports. Many of the subjects were found to be sensitive to tonalness changes. In Set A when only the tonalness was increased, a significant increase in annoyance ratings was observed. It was also found that the loudness influenced the annoyance ratings significantly, when both tonalness and loudness were varied, but that tonalness still influenced the ratings. Average annoyance ratings were highly correlated to metrics that take into account both tonalness and level. It appears from the results that inclusion of tonalness in environmental noise metrics should be considered, but that large-scale community surveys including noise measurements should be conducted to determine the form that the tonalness-level metric should take.
01 Jan 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of noise from building mechanical systems with tonal components on human task performance and perception were investigated, and it was found that higher annoyance/distraction responses were significantly correlated with reduced typing task performance.
Abstract: This study investigated the effects of noise from building mechanical systems with tonal components on human task performance and perception. Six different noise conditions based on in-situ measurements were reproduced in an officelike setting; all were set to approximately the same sound level (47 dBA) but could have one particular tonal frequency (120 Hz, 235 Hz, or 595 Hz) at one of two tonal prominence ratios (5 or 9). Thirty participants were asked to complete typing, grammatical reasoning, and math tasks plus subjective questionnaires, while being exposed for approximately 1 hour to each noise condition. Results show that the noise conditions that had tonal prominence ratios of 9 were generally perceived to be more annoying than those of 5, although statistically significant differences in task performance were not found. Other findings are (1) that higher annoyance/distraction responses were significantly correlated with reduced typing task performance; (2) that the noise characteristics most closely correlated to higher annoyance/distraction responses in this study were higher ratings of loudness followed by roar, rumble, and tones; and (3) that perception of more low frequency rumble in particular was significantly linked to reduced performance on both the routine and cognitively demanding tasks.