Torben Holm Pedersen

How many psycho‐acoustic attributes are needed

Sounds may be characterized by objective perceptive attributes (for which there may exist physical metrics) or by subjective (affective or connotative) attributes. This paper will deal with the perceptive attributes. Within product sound quality the metrics for classical the psycho‐acoustic attributes (loudness, sharpness, roughness and fluctuation strength) ‐maybe supplemented with tone and impulse prominence‐ are often used as the only attributes to characterize the sounds. But are these 4‐6 attributes or dimensions sufficient to characterize a sound? Within room acoustics and reproduced sound many other attributes are used and in the language around 100 direct sound describing words may be found. This paper will give an overview over attributes used within different acoustic areas. The latter part of the paper will discuss the role of sensory evaluation methods as a means to systematically developing attributes for the objective qualification and quantification of sound characteristics.

OP XI – 1 Long-term exposure to road traffic noise and incidence of myocardial infarction. a danish nurse cohort study

Background/aim Exposure to road traffic noise has been linked to adverse health effects, including cardiovascular diseases (CVD), however, evidence is inconsistent. In this study we examined the association between long-term exposure to road traffic noise and incidence of myocardial infarction (MI). Methods We used the data from a nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort on 22 438 female nurses (age >44 years) who at recruitment in 1993 or 1999 reported information on CVD risk factors. We obtained data on incidence of MI from the Danish National Patient Register until end of 2014. Road traffic noise levels at the nurses’ residences between 1970 and 2014 were estimated using The Nord2000 as the annual mean of a weighted 24 hour average (Lden). We used time-varying Cox regression models to examine the association between 24-, 10-, and 1 year running mean of Lden and MI incidence, in a crude model (adjusted for age and time of cohort enrolment) and in a fully adjusted model (adjusted for age, enrolment year, physical activity, alcohol, smoking, marital status, fruit consumption and use of hormone therapy). Results Of the 22 438 women, 590 developed MI during a mean follow-up of 18.3 years. Residential road traffic noise levels ranged from 5–82.7 dB at the year of cohort baseline. We found no association between exposure to road traffic noise and MI in crude (hazard ratio; 95% confidence interval: 0.94; 0.83–1.05) or fully (0.92; 0.82–1.04) adjusted model, for each 10 dB increase in 24 year mean road traffic noise levels. Similar results were found with 10 year and 1 year exposure windows. We observed a possible trend of increased risk, although statistically non-significant, in nurses living in urban areas (1.29; 0.84–2.00), and none in those living in provincial (0.98; 0.77–1.23) or rural (0.91; 0.77–1.07) areas (p for interaction 0.38). Conclusion We found no association between long-term exposure to road traffic noise and MI in the total population of Danish nurses. We present novel finding that nurses living in urban areas may be more susceptible to the effects of exposure to road traffic noise with respect to MI.

A common lexicon for spatial sound quality assessment - latest developments

This paper reports the latest developments in ongoing research to establish a common lexicon of sound quality attributes agnostic to the application under study. It expands on earlier work with the definition of attributes for the evaluation of spatial sound reproduction. A panel of 12 specialized expert assessors was used to expand the lexicon to incorporate spatial sound characteristics. The discussions were based on the results of a semantic clustering of relevant quality attribute sets proposed in the literature. The updated lexicon is presented, with detailed definitions, scale labels and examples provided for the attributes. Further review and formal validation are required in future.