Noise-induced annoyance from transportation noise: Short-term responses to a single noise source in a laboratory

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 127; no. 2; pp. 804 - 814
• Main Authors: Kim, Jaehwan, Lim, Changwoo, Hong, Jiyoung, Lee, Soogab
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melville, NY Acoustical Society of America 01.02.2010; American Institute of Physics
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Acoustics; Adult; Aircraft; Algorithms; Auditory Perception; Automobiles; Emotions; Exact sciences and technology; Female; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Humans; Male; Noise; Noise, Transportation; Noise: its effects and control; Physics; Psychoacoustics; Railroads; Surveys and Questionnaires; Time Factors; Young Adult; Short term; Noise pollution; Sound source; Traffic noise
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.3273896

An experimental study was performed to compare the annoyances from civil-aircraft noise, military-aircraft noise, railway noise, and road-traffic noise. Two-way within-subjects designs were applied in this research. Fifty-two subjects, who were naïve listeners, were given various stimuli with varying levels through a headphone in an anechoic chamber. Regardless of the frequency weighting network, even under the same average energy level, civil-aircraft noise was the most annoying, followed by military-aircraft noise, railway noise, and road-traffic noise. In particular, penalties in the time-averaged, A -weighted sound level (TAL) of about 8, 5, and 5 dB, respectively, were found in the civil-aircraft, military-aircraft, and railway noises. The reason could be clarified through the high-frequency component and the variability in the level. When people were exposed to sounds with the same maximum A -weighted level, a railway bonus of about 3 dB was found. However, transportation noise has been evaluated by the time-averaged A -weighted level in most countries. Therefore, in the present situation, the railway bonus is not acceptable for railway vehicles with diesel-electric engines.