Annoyance

About: Annoyance is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2015 publications have been published within this topic receiving 38300 citations. The topic is also known as: annoy.

Assessment of community response to impulsive noise

Abstract: The US Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory has completed community attitudinal surveys at two major Army installations The main purpose of these surveys was to better understand community response to the impulsive noise generated by large Army weapons such as tanks, artillery, or demolition The results show that an energy type of model such as the C-weighted day/night average sound level (CDNL) is the best available descriptor for community response for these types of impulsive sound Growth in annoyance to all noises increases monotonically with both sound amplitude and frequency of occurrence This descriptor should incorporate a nighttime adjustment on the order of 10 decibels (dB) The exact function for relating the percentage of a community highly annoyed to CDNL remains in question It appears that the present National Academy of Science Committee on Hearing, Bioacoustics and Biomechanics (CHABA) recommendation may underestimate actual annoyance, and that the functional relation between annoyance and CDNL should be shifted by 3-4 dB However, more research on the percentage of a community highly annoyed versus CDNL and the existence and value of community rise- and decay-time constants is required to clarify this issue

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.

Traffic noise: Annoyance assessment of real and virtual sounds based on close proximity measurements

Abstract: The negative impact of noise on human health is well established and a high percentage of environmental noise is related with traffic sources. In this study, we compared annoyance judgments of real and virtual traffic sounds. Virtual sounds were generated through an auralization software with input from close proximity tyre/road noise measurements and real sounds were recorded through a Head and Torso Simulator. Both groups had sounds generated at two speeds and from three urban pavement surfaces (asphalt concrete, concrete blocks and granite cubes). Under controlled laboratory conditions, participants rated the annoyance of each real and virtual stimulus. It was found that virtual stimuli, based on close proximity tyre/road noise, can be used to assess traffic annoyance, in spite of systematic lower rates than those found for real stimuli. The effects of type of pavement and speed were the same for both conditions (real and virtualized stimulus). Opposed to granite cubes, asphalt concrete had lower annoyance rates for both test speeds and higher rate differences between real and virtual stimuli. Additionally, it was also found that annoyance is better described by Loudness than by LAmax. This evidence is stronger for the virtual stimuli condition than for the real stimuli one. Nevertheless, we should stress that it is possible to accurately predict real annoyance rates from virtual auralized sound samples through a simple transformation model. The methodology developed is clearly efficient and significantly simplifies field procedures, allowing the reduction of experimental costs, a better control of variables and an increment on the accuracy of annoyance ratings.

Noise in relation to annoyance, performance, and mental health.

Abstract: There are many psychological factors which cause differences of human response to the same level of sound energy. Nevertheless, experiments have allowed these factors to be understood, at least to the extent where policy decisions can be made. The results show that increasing levels of noise increase annoyance, probably increasing the general arousal or excitability of the nervous system. This gives changes in performance which are sometimes detrimental, but not by any means always. Annoyance is associated with psychiatric ill‐health, but increases in noise do not appear to increase the proportion of people with such illness.