Catherine Marquis-Favre

Testing of the European Union exposure-response relationships and annoyance equivalents model for annoyance due to transportation noises: The need of revised exposure-response relationships and annoyance equivalents model

An in situ survey was performed in 8 French cities in 2012 to study the annoyance due to combined transportation noises. As the European Commission recommends to use the exposure-response relationships suggested by Miedema and Oudshoorn [Environmental Health Perspective, 2001] to predict annoyance due to single transportation noise, these exposure-response relationships were tested using the annoyance due to each transportation noise measured during the French survey. These relationships only enabled a good prediction in terms of the percentages of people highly annoyed by road traffic noise. For the percentages of people annoyed and a little annoyed by road traffic noise, the quality of prediction is weak. For aircraft and railway noises, prediction of annoyance is not satisfactory either. As a consequence, the annoyance equivalents model of Miedema [The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2004], based on these exposure-response relationships did not enable a good prediction of annoyance due to combined transportation noises. Local exposure-response relationships were derived, following the whole computation suggested by Miedema and Oudshoorn [Environmental Health Perspective, 2001]. They led to a better calculation of annoyance due to each transportation noise in the French cities. A new version of the annoyance equivalents model was proposed using these new exposure-response relationships. This model enabled a better prediction of the total annoyance due to the combined transportation noises. These results encourage therefore to improve the annoyance prediction for noise in isolation with local or revised exposure-response relationships, which will also contribute to improve annoyance modeling for combined noises. With this aim in mind, a methodology is proposed to consider noise sensitivity in exposure-response relationships and in the annoyance equivalents model. The results showed that taking into account such variable did not enable to enhance both exposure-response relationships and the annoyance equivalents model.

Spectral and modulation indices for annoyance-relevant features of urban road single-vehicle pass-by noises

The models that relate noise annoyance assessments to noise signal parameters are mainly based on energy-related indices (e.g., LDEN). However, various studies have shown that sound characteristics of environmental noises linked to temporal and spectral signal features also influence noise annoyance responses. In order to enhance noise annoyance models, an adequate perception-related characterization of these influential acoustical features is essential. On the basis of urban road single-vehicle pass-by noises, this study will show the identification of noise characteristics that rely on spectral and temporal signal properties and that are related to noise annoyance. Based on a semantic differential test with a verbalization task, it will be shown that the sensation dull/shrill, related to the spectral content of the noises and the modulation-related sensations sputtering and nasal are linked to annoyance. The sensation dull/shrill could be characterized using the index TETC (Total Energy of Tonal Components within critical bands from 16 to 24 barks). The correlation of sputtering and nasal sensations with psychoacoustic indices was unsatisfactory. Two alternative indices are proposed to improve the characterization of these specific sensations. It is shown that noise annoyance assessment benefits from taking the TETC index and the sputtering and nasal indices into account.

A simulated environment experiment on annoyance due to combined road traffic and industrial noises

Total annoyance due to combined noises is still difficult to predict adequately. This scientific gap is an obstacle for noise action planning, especially in urban areas where inhabitants are usually exposed to high noise levels from multiple sources. In this context, this work aims to highlight potential to enhance the prediction of total annoyance. The work is based on a simulated environment experiment where participants performed activities in a living room while exposed to combined road traffic and industrial noises. The first objective of the experiment presented in this paper was to gain further understanding of the effects on annoyance of some acoustical factors, non-acoustical factors and potential interactions between the combined noise sources. The second one was to assess total annoyance models constructed from the data collected during the experiment and tested using data gathered in situ. The results obtained in this work highlighted the superiority of perceptual models. In particular, perceptual models with an interaction term seemed to be the best predictors for the two combined noise sources under study, even with high differences in sound pressure level. Thus, these results reinforced the need to focus on perceptual models and to improve the prediction of partial annoyances.

Perception and Annoyance Due to Vibrations in Dwellings Generated From Ground Transportation: A Review

Over the past decades, the improvement of the quality of buildings regarding sound insulation has made it possible to reduce noise exposure. But this improvement has led to the increasing importance of other environmental nuisances such as vibrations. Just like noise, vibrations can also affect human health and well-being. National authorities are progressively becoming aware of the adverse effects of vibrations on human beings. One of these adverse effects is vibration annoyance. As a prerequisite for studying vibration annoyance, many research works have provided knowledge of how vibrations are perceived by human beings. But, until now, only a few large-scale studies have been carried out to gain knowledge of annoyance due to vibrations. This knowledge is of importance for public authorities in order to plan the development of transportation networks while taking account of this environmental nuisance (i.e. vibrations). Assessing vibration annoyance is a complex task that implies research work spread over various disciplines (e.g. human sciences, physics). This is why a review of knowledge in the field of vibration perception and annoyance is felt to be necessary. More specifically, this review focuses on vibration annoyance felt by inhabitants inside buildings and caused by ground transportation sources. Before dealing with the review of annoyance due to vibrations, the basics of human vibratory perception are presented. Then, annoyance due to a vibration exposure is dealt with. In particular, the way vibration exposure and vibration annoyance are measured and assessed is tackled. The main features and results of research works that aimed to establish exposure-effect relationships between annoyance and vibrations are described. Finally, this review presents a state-of-the-art of annoyance due to a combined exposure to vibrations and noise, since people exposed to vibrations are also often exposed to airborne noise. This review is non-exhaustive, but it can give to scientists and engineers working in the field tools for a better understanding of some of the factors to consider when dealing with the issue of vibration annoyance due to ground transportation.

Total annoyance from an industrial noise source with a main spectral component combined with a background noise

When living close to an industrial plant, people are exposed to a combination of industrial noise sources and a background noise composed of all the other noise sources in the environment. As a first step, noise annoyance indicators in laboratory conditions are proposed for a single exposure to an industrial noise source. The second step detailed in this paper involves determining total annoyance indicators in laboratory conditions for ambient noises composed of an industrial noise source and a background noise. Two types of steady and permanent industrial noise sources are studied: low frequency noises with a main spectral component at 100 Hz, and noises with a main spectral component in middle frequencies. Five background noises are assessed so as to take into account different sound environments which can usually be heard by people living around an industrial plant. One main conclusion of this study is that two different analyses are necessary to determine total annoyance indicators for this type of ambient noise, depending on the industrial noise source composing it. Therefore, two total annoyance indicators adapted to the ambient noises studied are proposed.

Noise sensitivity and loudness derivative index for urban road traffic noise annoyance computation

Urban road traffic composed of powered-two-wheelers (PTWs), buses, heavy, and light vehicles is a major source of noise annoyance. In order to assess annoyance models considering different acoustical and non-acoustical factors, a laboratory experiment on short-term annoyance due to urban road traffic noise was conducted. At the end of the experiment, participants were asked to rate their noise sensitivity and to describe the noise sequences they heard. This verbalization task highlights that annoyance ratings are highly influenced by the presence of PTWs and by different acoustical features: noise intensity, irregular temporal amplitude variation, regular amplitude modulation, and spectral content. These features, except irregular temporal amplitude variation, are satisfactorily characterized by the loudness, the total energy of tonal components and the sputtering and nasal indices. Introduction of the temporal derivative of loudness allows successful modeling of perceived amplitude variations. Its contribution to the tested annoyance models is high and seems to be higher than the contribution of mean loudness index. A multilevel regression is performed to assess annoyance models using selected acoustical indices and noise sensitivity. Three models are found to be promising for further studies that aim to enhance current annoyance models.

Acoustical indicator of noise annoyance due to tramway in in-curve operating configurations

Tramway gives rise to annoyance. Particularly, tramway in an in-curve operating configuration often emits squeal noises leading to inhabitants’ complaints. Noise exposure levels were not sufficient to account for annoyance. Other acoustical factors could explain noise annoyance. A laboratory experiment is carried out in order to identify and characterize the influential acoustical factors of in-curve tramway noises. Subjects are asked to rate the short-term annoyance caused by 14 tramway pass-by noises, recorded in situ for various in-curve operating configurations. A psychoacoustical analysis shows that the overall perceived noise level, the irregular character and the treble character of tramway noises influence noise annoyance. These acoustical features are taken into account through the following indices: the mean loudness, the variance of time-varying A-weighted pressure normalized by RMS A-weighted pressure, and a psychoacoustical index, constructed to account for squeal noise, expressed by the tota...

Dose-effect relationships for annoyance due to road traffic noise: Multi-level regression and consideration of noise sensitivity

An in situ survey was performed in eight French cities in 2012 to study the annoyance due to combined transportation noise sources. The European Union dose-effect relationships were compared to these new survey data for noise annoyance due to road traffic noise. The measured annoyance was not satisfactorily predicted by these curves: only the percentages of people highly annoyed by road traffic noise was well predicted. Following a multi-level regression as used to construct the European Union dose-effect relationships, new dose-effect relationships were proposed. These new dose-effect relationships enabled a better calculation of noise annoyance due to road traffic noise. Finally, a methodology to consider noise sensitivity in the computation and the percentage of people sensitive to noise in the results is proposed, as this non-acoustical factor is well known to influence noise annoyance. However, the results showed that taking into account such variable did not enable to enhance the dose-effect relatio...

Auditory Evaluation of Sounds Radiated from a Vibrating Plate Inside a Damped Cavity

This paper deals with the auditory perception of sounds radiated from a vibrating plate inside a damped cavity. It focuses on the adjustment of vibroacoustic computation efforts with the prospect of using vibroacoustic simulations to enhance the quality of the radiated sounds from the design stage of structure. The adjustment issues appear as important when working with synthesized sounds. Also, when sounds are synthesized from computations in frequency under vibroacoustic prediction tools, computational efforts are inherently dependent on a first restrictive parameter: the maximum limit frequency. Thus, as a first step, this frequency parameter is aimed at being adjusted up to a value which would allow a conservation of the perceptual outcomes concerning an optimal structural design, originally obtained from the auditory evaluation of a set of recorded sounds. To reach this aim, recorded sounds are acquired from an experimental cavity-backed plate; they actually correspond to sounds radiated from the vibrating plate inside the air cavity, recorded for different structural configurations of the experimental system. The latter configurations involve the controlled variation of three structural parameters: the plate thickness, the plate tightening conditions and the cavity sound absorption properties. The recorded sounds are first pairwise submitted to a jury of listeners who are asked to give dissimilarity and preference judgments. From the analysis of the collected data, reference perceptual results are established, in terms of perceptual space, preference space and preference ranking. Afterwards, the adjustment process aims at finding out, from a lowpass filtering applied to the recorded sounds, a cutoff frequency within their entire frequency content allowing the reference perceptual results to be preserved.

Selection of a sound propagation model for noise annoyance prediction: A perceptual approach

Sound propagation effects need to be considered in studies dealing with the perception of annoying auditory sensations evoked by transportation noise. Thus, in a listening test requiring participants to make dissimilarity ratings, the effects of several feasible propagation models are compared to actual recordings of vehicle noises made at a given distance. As a result, a model taking into account first order reflections without any phase term is found to be the most appropriate model for simulating road traffic noise propagation in an urban environment from a perceptual point of view.