Low-frequency noise complaints: a detailed investigation of twenty-two cases

In Denmark and in other industrialized countries there are cases where people complain about annoying low-frequency or infrasonic noise in their homes. Besides noise annoyance people often report other adverse effects such as insomnia, headache, lack of concentration etc. In many cases the noise is only heard by a single person in the household. This raises the fundamental question whether the complainants are annoyed by an external physical sound, or if other explanations such as low-frequency tinnitus must be sought. The main aim of this study is to answer this fundamental question by thoroughly investigating 22 such cases. Recordings and analyses were made of the sound in the complainants' homes and each complainant was invited to the laboratory where low-frequency thresholds and equal-loudness contours were measured. In a blind test it was examined if they are able to hear the sound recorded in their homes. The data analysis is not finished at the time of paper submission, but the results will be presented at the conference.