Noise annoyance

Noise annoyance is the currently most used criterion for adverse effects of noise (for assessment of the risk of hearing damage other criteria are used). Annoyance can be described as a feeling of displeasure evoked by a noise. It is closely related to feelings described by the words: disturbance, bother, irritation, nuisance, discomfort and uneasiness. Whether a person becomes annoyed when exposed to noise, depends on the noise (e.g. how intense it is, how it varies with time, and what frequencies it contains), but also many other parameters have an impact on the annoyance. These can be divided into individual factors such as hearing impairment, noise sensitivity, attitude to the noise source, physiological and psychological state, situational factors such as activities performed or intended to be performed, and noise source related factors such as controllability of the noise source, information content and permanence. To describe the noise, a single physical measure is desirable for noise regulation. The equivalent A-weighted sound pressure level is predominantly used, and it relates rather well to annoyance for some noise sources. However, it performs less well if comparisons are made between different sounds sources of different characters, and if the noise comprises dominant low frequency components, tonal components, fluctuating sounds and impulse sounds. This project has the overall aim to evaluate how different parameters in a sound relate to annoyance. In order to achieve this it is necessary first to study methodological aspects of importance for the experimentally evaluated annoyance. An example of a study of methodological aspects is given in the project “Influence of recording/playback technique on noise annoyance ratings”. Supported by STVF/FTP.