Yasutaka Osada

Comparison of community reactions to traffic noise

Abstract In 1989, the community reaction to aircraft noise was surveyed around the New Tokyo International Airport (Narita Airport) by means of an interview method. The questionnaire used in the survey was a modified version of a question sheet used in a study around Yokota Airbase in 1971. The results of these two surveys were compared. The response to questions on interference with conversation, talking on the telephone and listening to TV and radio was quite similar in the two studies. However, some differences were observed in the rates of interference with night sleep and reading and/or concentrating. This may be caused by differences between the two studies in aircraft flight patterns and occupations of the respondents. Such tendencies were also observed when the Narita survey was compared with other studies conducted around the airports of Yokota, Haneda, Chitose, Osaka, Fukuoka and Miyazaki. Finally, the community reaction to aircraft noise was compared with the reaction to road traffic noise and train noise. The rates of annoyance and speech interference were highly dependent on noise levels. Other relevant factors, such as sex, age, year of residence, occupation, etc., had much weaker relations to the extent of reactions.

A study on body temperature regulation and residential thermal environments of the elderly—I. whole country survey of residential thermal environment and evaluation methods: RTE-index

Abstract 1. 1. As part of “research on environmental comfort,” that is, research which aims to make peoples living environment more comfortable, we attempted to clarify the relation between the living environment of elderly people and physiological and psychological factors. We carried out a comprehensive study with a view to establishing comfort standards for the residential thermal environment, and for creating evaluation and control systems. 2. 2. The comfort of the living environment is closely related to the thermal environment and the temperature-regulation ability of the human body. This ability of the body to regulate temperature develops during childhood and recedes as the adult ages. 3. 3. We therefore carried out: (a) experiments on body-temperature regulation and on special characteristics of the body-temperature regulation of elderly people, (b) a nationwide survey of the actual residential thermal environments of elderly people and (c) a survey of the daily activities of elderly people, and how elderly peoples physiological and psychological conditions change when they are engaged in these activities. 4. 4. As a result of these experiments and surveys, we were able to: (d) formulate standards for evaluation of the residential thermal environment and (e) numerically express the results of systematic evaluation of residential thermal environments of elderly people, by means of a RTE-index.