Scaling loudness, noisiness, and annoyance of community noises

Abstract

The contribution of type and sound levels of community noises to the perception of loudness, noisiness, and annoyance was studied in a laboratory situation. The psychological attributes were precisely defined to the 30 observers, the method of magnitude estimation was used for scaling the attributes, and the scales were calibrated to a common unit of measurement. It was demonstrated that observers in carefully designed laboratory experiments are able to use and produce scales of loudness, noisiness, and annoyance for community noise. The relationships between the attributes were satisfactorily described by linear functions, the parameters being specific to the type of community noise. In general, community noises are judged to be more noisy (or annoying) than loud although the importance of noisiness relative to loudness varies with type of noise as well as loudness level. A linear model is suggested that describes community noises with regard to perceptual attributes. The model states that annoyance and noisiness are proportional to loudness, thus encouraging the viewpoint that psychoacoustical research may well concentrate on the attribute of loudness. Subject Classification: [43]65.50, [43]65.52; [43]50.75, [43]50.20.