Thresholds and Acceptability of Low Frequency Pure Tones by Sufferers

Abstract

In order to investigate sensory thresholds and to make subjective evaluations of low frequency pure tones in noise sufferers who complain of annoying environments in their everyday life, sound pressure levels of sensory thresholds and subjectively acceptable maximum SPL levels for a living room were measured in a low frequency chamber. These measurements involved a psychophysical experiment using eleven pure tones at low frequencies from 10Hz to 100 Hz as stimuli, and the psychophysical method of subject adjustment was used for the measurements. Twelve members of the noise-sufferer's society in Japan participated as subjects (referred to as participants in the measurement experiment). The results show that all the participants' acceptable maximum sound pressure levels were relatively low, and nearly equal to their sensory thresholds. These results are characteristic of the participants and differ from the previous results obtained from the other adults.

References

Inukai

Nakamura

and Taya

(2000), Unpleasantness and acceptable limits of low frequency sound, J. Low Frequency Noise, Vibration and Active Control, 19(3), pp.135–140.

Inukai

Nakamura

and Taya

(2001), Threshold, unpleasantness and acceptable limits of low frequency pure tones for elderly people, Proceedings of 17th International Congress on Acoustics, Rome, 4(8–11), pp.30–31.

Inukai

Taya

and Yamada

(2002), Sufferers' sensation threshold and acceptable SPL for pure tones at low frequencies. Proceedings of the 2002 Spring Meeting of the Institute of Noise Control Engineering of Japan, April, pp.23–26 (In Japanese).

Langdon

F.J.

(1985), “Noise Annoyance” in The Noise Handbook Ed. Tempest

Academic Press, London.

Bryan

M.E.

(2002), Personality and annoyance by low & mid frequency environmental noise, Proceedings of the 10th International Meeting on Low Frequency Noise and Vibration and its Control, York, England, pp.91–102.