Relationship between exposure and listening disturbance response due to transportation noise in Japan

Abstract

In the previous study, we performed a secondary analysis using micro-data and established the Japanese relationships between sound pressure level from night-time (Lnight) and the percentage of highly sleep disturbed people (%HSD) for the following transportation noises: road traffic, conventional railway and Shinkansen railway noises. Adding the datasets associated with civil and military aircraft noises, we successively established the Japanese representative relationships between day-evening-night sound pressure level (Lden) and the prevalence of highly annoyed people (%HA) due to transportation noise in Japan. This paper newly focuses on listening disturbance, which is one of psychological effects of noise. Thirty-five datasets, which were provided by Socio-Acoustic Survey Data Archive and derived from the other recent surveys conducted in Japan, were accumulated for the analysis. All the datasets include the following micro-data: demographic factors, exposure, and reaction to disturbance in listening to telephone, television, or radio. This paper defines the percentage of highly listening disturbed people (%HLD) using a 72% cut-off point. Based on the discussion about the difference in %HLD depending on the question wording, the number of scale points, demographic factor, and housing type, we establish the relationship between Lden and %HLD by transportation noise.