Annoyance Loudness and Unacceptability of Higher Level Low Frequency Noise

Abstract

Over the last few years, it has become apparent that annoyance due to low frequency noise is more wide spread than initially believed. As part of an investigation into this type of annoyance, 20 subjects (10 males and 10 females) carried out a psychophysical magnitude estimation task and rated the annoyance and loudness of higher-level low frequency noise stimuli. Overall, no significant difference between the annoyance and loudness attributes was found, but some sex differences did occur. Males had a significantly different rate of annoyance growth when compared to females and the loudness response by males was significantly higher than for females. Unacceptability was also rated, and as expected, magnitude of annoyance, ψ, was related to the B-weighted sound pressure, P_b, by the simple power law ψ = K_pb^0.616 (90 < OASPL (dB) < 105, 20 < FREQUENCY (Hz) < 90) where K is a constant.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Hood

R.A.

Leventhall

H.G.

(1971). “Field measurement of Infrasonic Noise”. Acustica, Vol. 25, 10–13.

Tempest

(1973). “Loudness and Annoyance Due to Low Frequency Sound”. Acustica, Vol. 29, 205–209.

Leventhall

H.G.

Kyriakides

, (1976). “Environmental Infrasound: Its Occurrence and Measurement”, in Infrasound and Low Frequency Vibration, Tempest

(ed.), Academic Press, London.

Bryan

M.E.

(1976). “Low Frequency Annoyance” in Infrasound and Low Frequency Vibration, W. Tempest.

Broner

(1978). “Low Frequency and Infrasonic Noise in Transportation”. Applied Acoustics, Vol. 11, 129–146.

Martin

D.J.

(1978). “Low Frequency Traffic Noise and Building Vibration”. T.R.R.L. Supplementary Report 429 (Dept. of the Environment, Dept. of Transport).

Bryan

M. E.

(1971). “Annoyance Effects Due to Low Frequency Sound”. Proc. of the Autumn Mtg. of the Brit. Acoust. Soc.

Vasudevan

R.N.

Gordon

C.G.

(1977). “Experimental Study of Annoyance Due to Low Frequency Environmental Noise”. Applied Acoustics, Vol. 11. 57–69.

Broner

(1978). “The Effects of Low Frequency Noise on People – A review”. J. Sound and Vibration, Vol. 58, 483–500.

10.

Bryan

M.E.

Tempest

(1972). “Does Infrasound Make Drivers Drunk?”. New Scientist, Vol. 53, (787), 584–586.

11.

Mullin

(1972). “Infrasound's Effects”. New Scientist, Vol. 53, (789), 709.

12.

Birney

J.G.

(1972) “Infrasound”. New Scientist, Vol. 54, (791), 101.

13.

Anon. (1973). “The Infrasonic Bus”. Noise and Vib. Bull., March, 84.

14.

Anon. (1973). “Oil-Fired Boiler”. Noise and Vib. Bull., Nov., 286.

15.

Bruel

Oleson

H.P.

(1973). “Infrasonic Measurements”. Bruel and Kjaer Technical Review, No. 3, 14–25.

16.

Ashley

(1975). “Chairman's Report on the Workshop on Infrasound”. J. Sound Vib., Vol. 43 (2), 462–466.

17.

Nishiwaki

Mori

(1976). “Noise at Infrasound Frequencies Generated by Machines and Methods for Decreasing SJ'.L.” Proc. Inter-Noise 76.

18.

Scott

(1978). “Annoyance Caused by Low Frequency Sound”. Noise and Vibration Bull., Sept., 266–268.

19.

Stevens

S.S.

(1970). “On the Quantitative Evaluation of Noise” in “Transportation Noises – A Symposium on Acceptability Criteria” Ed. Chalupnik

James D.

, University of Washington Press.

20.

Berglund

Lindvall

(1975). “Scaling Loudness, Noisiness and Annoyance of Aircraft Noise”. J Acoust. Soc. Am, Vol. 57, 930–934.

21.

Berglund

Lindvall

(1976). “Scaling Loudness, Noisiness and Annoyance of Community Noises”. J. Acoust. Soc. Am, Vol. 60, 1119–1125.

22.

Berglund

(1978). “Loudness and Annoyance of Single and Combined Community Noises”. Rept. No. 524, psych, lab. Univ. of Stockholm.

23.

Yeowart

N.S.

(1976). “Thresholds of Hearing and Loudness for Very Low Frequencies”, in Infrasound and Low Frequency Vibration. Ed. Tempest

, Academic Press, London.

24.

Broner

Leventhall

H.G.

(1978). “Individual Loudness Functions”. Acoustics Letters, Vol. 2, 22–25.

25.

Broner

Leventhall

H.G.

(1982). “A Criterion For Predicting the Annoyance Due to Higher-Level Low Frequency Noise”. J. Sound Vib. Vol. 84, 443–448.

26.

Broner

Leventhall

H.G.

(1980). “A Modified PNdB For Assessment of Low Frequency Noise”. J. Sound Vib. Vol. 73, 271–277.

27.

Stevens

S.S.

(1960). “The Psychophysics of Sensory Function”. Am. Scientist, Vol. 48, 226–253.

28.

Stevens

S.S.

(1976). “Psychophysics. Introduction to its Perceptual, Neural and Social Prospects” John Wiley and Sons. (Ed. Stevens

Geraldine

29.

Marks

L.E.

(1974). “Sensory Processes, The New Psychophysics”, Academic press, New York and London.

30.

Barbenza

Cm.

Bryan

M.E.

Tempest

(1970). “Individual Loudness Functions”. J. Sound Vib. Vol. 11, 399–410.

31.

Stevens

S.S.

(1972). “Perceived Level of Noise by Mark VII and Decibels (E).” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Vol. 51, 515–601.

32.

Kryter

K.D.

(1968). “Concepts of perceived noisiness, their implementation and application”, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. Vol. 43, 344–361.

33.

Kryter

K.D.

(1970). “Possible modifications to calculation of perceived noisiness”. NASA Report CR 1636, August.

34.

Higgins

T.H.

(1976). “Human response to sound. The calculation of perceived level, PLdB (noisiness or loudness) directly from physical measures”. U.S.D.O.T.F.A.A. Report No. FAA-RD-76-1 (Nov).

35.

ISO 1970 R507 “Procedure for describing aircraft noise around an airport”.