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Noise-Related Annoyance

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2018) | Viewed by 37625

Special Issue Editor

Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44801 Bochum, Germany
Interests: environmental noise and health; quality of life; noise annoyance; auditory perception; audiovisual phenomenal causality; picture perception
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health welcomes submissions for a Special Issue of the journal. This Special Issue will focus on noise annoyance.

Long-term noise annoyance is the most prominent effect of environmental noise; most of the residents exposed to high environmental noise levels report high annoyance. Many publications show exposure-response relations of noise annoyance vs. noise levels. However, there are many factors contributing to noise annoyance, i.e., the acoustic variables describing the exposure (e.g., continuous noise levels, maximum noise levels, numbers of loud events) do not explain much of the annoyance variance observed in surveys. Personal, social, and situations contribute much to noise annoyance. This situation is typical for man-environment interactions: Humans are no sound level meters, and the exposure to noise is just one factor in the long-term interaction process. This interaction may partially explain why exposure-response relations differ between noise sources, as well as between studies, and why they partially change over time.

Although we do already know much about noise annoyance, there are many questions left open. For instance, we do not know much about cognitive processes of respondents during the annoyance assessment, about the development of individual annoyance over time, about the respective weights of different activity disturbances given to annoyance judgments, about the relations between annoyance and physical or mental health and learning, about relations between occupational noise annoyance and noise at home, about effects of interventions to reduce annoyance, and about restoration or recovery in field settings, to name but a few. Above all, a common theory of noise annoyance is lacking—even if we refer to the general concept of stress. The Special Issue on “Noise-Related Annoyance” will improve our common knowledge and may help to apply it for mitigation purposes.

Prof. Dr. Rainer Guski
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • activity disturbance and noise annoyance
  • aircraft noise annoyance
  • air pollution and noise annoyance
  • annoyance theory
  • attitudes and noise annoyance
  • construction noise annoyance
  • coping capacity and annoyance
  • environmental noise annoyance
  • exposure-response relations
  • fairness aspects and annoyance
  • infrastructural change and noise annoyance
  • interventions to reduce noise annoyance
  • mixed noise sources and annoyance
  • moderating variables of noise annoyance
  • noise and vibration annoyance
  • noise annoyance and anxiety
  • noise annoyance and depression
  • noise annoyance and disease
  • noise annoyance and mental health
  • noise annoyance and restoration possibilities
  • noise mitigation and annoyance
  • noise respite and annoyance
  • noise source combination
  • occupational noise annoyance
  • policy options to reduce annoyance
  • population density and noise annoyance
  • quality of life and noise annoyance
  • railway noise annoyance
  • relations between mean and high annoyance
  • road traffic noise annoyance
  • societal trends and annoyance
  • sleep disturbance and annoyance
  • sound properties and noise annoyance
  • soundscape quality and noise annoyance
  • total noise annoyance
  • transportation noise annoyance
  • vulnerability and noise annoyance
  • wind turbine noise annoyance

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

36 pages, 3427 KiB  
Article
Response to Noise Emitted by Wind Farms in People Living in Nearby Areas
by Małgorzata Pawlaczyk-Łuszczyńska, Kamil Zaborowski, Adam Dudarewicz, Małgorzata Zamojska-Daniszewska and Małgorzata Waszkowska
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(8), 1575; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081575 - 25 Jul 2018
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4809
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception and annoyance of noise from wind turbines in populated areas of Poland. A questionnaire inquiry was carried out among 517 subjects, aged 18–88, living within 204–1726 m from the nearest wind turbine. For [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception and annoyance of noise from wind turbines in populated areas of Poland. A questionnaire inquiry was carried out among 517 subjects, aged 18–88, living within 204–1726 m from the nearest wind turbine. For areas where respondents lived, A-weighted sound pressure levels (SPLs) were calculated as the sum of the contributions from the wind power plants in the specific area. It has been shown that the wind turbine noise at the calculated A-weighted SPL of 33–50 dB was perceived as annoying or highly annoying by 46% and 28% of respondents, respectively. Moreover, 34% and 18% of them said that they were annoyed or highly annoyed indoors, respectively. The perception of high annoyance was associated with the A-weighted sound pressure level or the distance from the nearest wind turbine, general attitude to wind farms, noise sensitivity and terrain shape (annoyance outdoors) or road-traffic intensity (annoyance indoors). About 48–66% of variance in noise annoyance rating might be explained by the aforesaid factors. It was estimated that at the distance of 1000 m the wind turbine noise might be perceived as highly annoying outdoors by 43% and 2% of people with negative and positive attitude towards wind turbines, respectively. There was no significant association between noise level (or distance) and various health and well-being aspects. However, all variables measuring health and well-being aspects, including stress symptoms, were positively associated with annoyance related to wind turbine noise. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)
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16 pages, 9799 KiB  
Article
Effects of Railway Elevation, Operation of a New Station, and Earthquakes on Railway Noise Annoyance in Kumamoto, Japan
by Yasuhiro Murakami, Takashi Yano, Makoto Morinaga and Shigenori Yokoshima
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(7), 1417; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071417 - 05 Jul 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3105
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of railway elevation, operation of a new station, and earthquakes on railway noise annoyance in two areas along a conventional railway line (CRL) adjacent to the Kyushu Shinkansen line: the north area with the CRL elevation and the [...] Read more.
This study investigated the effects of railway elevation, operation of a new station, and earthquakes on railway noise annoyance in two areas along a conventional railway line (CRL) adjacent to the Kyushu Shinkansen line: the north area with the CRL elevation and the south area with the operation of the new station, both of which occurred in March 2016. In April 2016, Kumamoto region was struck by a series of large earthquakes, prompting their inclusion in this study, as frequent aftershocks with loud ground rumbling might make people more sensitive to railway noise and vibration. Socioacoustic surveys were performed in both areas before and after the earthquakes. Because very few respondents in the north area reported that they were “highly annoyed,” further analysis was conducted on data from the south area. The exposure–annoyance relationship was found to be significantly higher in 2017 than in 2011 despite lower noise exposure. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that Lden, noise sensitivity, and serious damage by the earthquakes in addition to the operation of the new station significantly affected the annoyance in both detached and apartment houses. However, when the earthquakes caused minimal damage, they did not significantly affect annoyance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)
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22 pages, 1024 KiB  
Article
Home as a Place of Noise Control for the Elderly? A Cross-Sectional Study on Potential Mediating Effects and Associations between Road Traffic Noise Exposure, Access to a Quiet Side, Dwelling-Related Green and Noise Annoyance
by Natalie Riedel, Heike Köckler, Joachim Scheiner, Irene Van Kamp, Raimund Erbel, Adrian Loerbroks, Thomas Claßen and Gabriele Bolte
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(5), 1036; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15051036 - 21 May 2018
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 5312
Abstract
Urban residents’ need to be in control of their home environment can be constrained by perceived uncontrollability of exposure to road traffic noise. Noise annoyance may indicate a psychological stress reaction due to this uncontrollability perception, thereby undermining the restoration process. Environmental resources, [...] Read more.
Urban residents’ need to be in control of their home environment can be constrained by perceived uncontrollability of exposure to road traffic noise. Noise annoyance may indicate a psychological stress reaction due to this uncontrollability perception, thereby undermining the restoration process. Environmental resources, such as having access to a quiet side at home and dwelling-related green, may reduce noise annoyance both directly by shielding acoustically and indirectly by enhancing residents’ perceived noise control. We assessed the potential mediating role of perceived noise control in independent and joint associations of road traffic noise exposure (>65 dB Lden) and of an absent dwelling-related environmental resource (three indicators concerning quiet sides and one indicator concerning dwelling-related green) with noise annoyance. In our cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study on elderly urban citizens (N = 1812), we observed a statistically significant indirect effect of noise exposure on noise annoyance through perceived noise control (39%, 95%CI 26–55%). Statistical mediation between indicators of absent environmental resources and noise annoyance was weaker. The potential indirect effect was confirmed for combinations of noise exposure with each of the four indicators of an absent environmental resource. Our findings may call for mitigating noise levels while fostering quietness and green at residents’ homes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)
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17 pages, 3308 KiB  
Article
Effects of Different Spectral Shapes and Amplitude Modulation of Broadband Noise on Annoyance Reactions in a Controlled Listening Experiment
by Beat Schäffer, Reto Pieren, Sabine J. Schlittmeier and Mark Brink
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(5), 1029; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15051029 - 19 May 2018
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4342
Abstract
Environmental noise from transportation or industrial infrastructure typically has a broad frequency range. Different sources may have disparate acoustical characteristics, which may in turn affect noise annoyance. However, knowledge of the relative contribution of the different acoustical characteristics of broadband noise to annoyance [...] Read more.
Environmental noise from transportation or industrial infrastructure typically has a broad frequency range. Different sources may have disparate acoustical characteristics, which may in turn affect noise annoyance. However, knowledge of the relative contribution of the different acoustical characteristics of broadband noise to annoyance is still scarce. In this study, the subjectively perceived short-term (acute) annoyance reactions to different broadband sounds (namely, realistic outdoor wind turbine and artificial, generic sounds) at 40 dBA were investigated in a controlled laboratory listening experiment. Combined with the factorial design of the experiment, the sounds allowed for separation of the effects of three acoustical characteristics on annoyance, namely, spectral shape, depth of periodic amplitude modulation (AM), and occurrence (or absence) of random AM. Fifty-two participants rated their annoyance with the sounds. Annoyance increased with increasing energy content in the low-frequency range as well as with depth of periodic AM, and was higher in situations with random AM than without. Similar annoyance changes would be evoked by sound pressure level changes of up to 8 dB. The results suggest that besides standard sound pressure level metrics, other acoustical characteristics of (broadband) noise should also be considered in environmental impact assessments, e.g., in the context of wind turbine installations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)
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23 pages, 1139 KiB  
Article
The Development of a Multiple-Item Annoyance Scale (MIAS) for Transportation Noise Annoyance
by Dirk Schreckenberg, Christin Belke and Jan Spilski
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(5), 971; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15050971 - 12 May 2018
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4732
Abstract
In 2001, Team#6 of the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) recommended the use of two single international standardised questions and response scales. This recommendation has been widely accepted in the scientific community. Nevertheless, annoyance can be regarded as a multidimensional [...] Read more.
In 2001, Team#6 of the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) recommended the use of two single international standardised questions and response scales. This recommendation has been widely accepted in the scientific community. Nevertheless, annoyance can be regarded as a multidimensional construct comprising the three elements: (1) experience of an often repeated noise-related disturbance and the behavioural response to cope with it, (2) an emotional/attitudinal response to the sound and its disturbing impact, and (3) the perceived control or coping capacity with regard to the noise situation. The psychometric properties of items reflecting these three elements have been explored for aircraft noise annoyance. Analyses were conducted using data of the NORAH-Study (Noise-Related Annoyance, Cognition, and Health), and a multi-item noise annoyance scale (MIAS) has been developed and tested post hoc by using a stepwise process (exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses). Preliminary results were presented to the 12th ICBEN Congress in 2017. In this study, the validation of MIAS is done for aircraft noise and extended to railway and road traffic noise. The results largely confirm the concept of MIAS as a second-order construct of annoyance for all of the investigated transportation noise sources; however, improvements can be made, in particular with regard to items addressing the perceived coping capacity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)
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13 pages, 2479 KiB  
Article
An Optimization Study on Listening Experiments to Improve the Comparability of Annoyance Ratings of Noise Samples from Different Experimental Sample Sets
by Guoqing Di, Kuanguang Lu and Xiaofan Shi
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(3), 474; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15030474 - 08 Mar 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2861
Abstract
Annoyance ratings obtained from listening experiments are widely used in studies on health effect of environmental noise. In listening experiments, participants usually give the annoyance rating of each noise sample according to its relative annoyance degree among all samples in the experimental sample [...] Read more.
Annoyance ratings obtained from listening experiments are widely used in studies on health effect of environmental noise. In listening experiments, participants usually give the annoyance rating of each noise sample according to its relative annoyance degree among all samples in the experimental sample set if there are no reference sound samples, which leads to poor comparability between experimental results obtained from different experimental sample sets. To solve this problem, this study proposed to add several pink noise samples with certain loudness levels into experimental sample sets as reference sound samples. On this basis, the standard curve between logarithmic mean annoyance and loudness level of pink noise was used to calibrate the experimental results and the calibration procedures were described in detail. Furthermore, as a case study, six different types of noise sample sets were selected to conduct listening experiments using this method to examine the applicability of it. Results showed that the differences in the annoyance ratings of each identical noise sample from different experimental sample sets were markedly decreased after calibration. The determination coefficient (R2) of linear fitting functions between psychoacoustic annoyance (PA) and mean annoyance (MA) of noise samples from different experimental sample sets increased obviously after calibration. The case study indicated that the method above is applicable to calibrating annoyance ratings obtained from different types of noise sample sets. After calibration, the comparability of annoyance ratings of noise samples from different experimental sample sets can be distinctly improved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)
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17 pages, 1133 KiB  
Article
Annoyance Judgment and Measurements of Environmental Noise: A Focus on Italian Secondary Schools
by Fabrizio Minichilli, Francesca Gorini, Elena Ascari, Fabrizio Bianchi, Alessio Coi, Luca Fredianelli, Gaetano Licitra, Federica Manzoli, Lorena Mezzasalma and Liliana Cori
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(2), 208; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15020208 - 26 Jan 2018
Cited by 119 | Viewed by 7948
Abstract
The effects of noise on students’ health, well-being, and learning are of growing concern among both the general public and policy-makers in Europe. Several studies have highlighted the consequences of noise on children’s learning and performance at school. This study investigates the relationship [...] Read more.
The effects of noise on students’ health, well-being, and learning are of growing concern among both the general public and policy-makers in Europe. Several studies have highlighted the consequences of noise on children’s learning and performance at school. This study investigates the relationship between noise judgment in school goers aged 11–18 and noise measurements aimed at evaluating their exposure at school. For this purpose, a questionnaire was administered to 521 individuals in 28 classrooms in eight schools of four cities in Italy, with different environmental characteristics. Using a Likert-type scale, a selected set of responses related to noise generated an Annoyance Index (AI) score for each student and a classroom median score (MAI). From the noise data acquired, a global noise score (GNS) was assigned to each classroom. A higher AI was found in industrialized areas and among younger students. No significant differences in noise judgment were found by gender. A significant inverse correlation was described between MAI and GNS, thus the better the acoustic quality of the classrooms, the less the perceived noise and annoyance. The results show that noise perception and consequent disturbance are highly correlated with classroom acoustics, and confirm that annoyance represents the most widespread subjective response to noise. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)
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1173 KiB  
Article
Partial and Total Annoyance Due to Road Traffic Noise Combined with Aircraft or Railway Noise: Structural Equation Analysis
by Laure-Anne Gille, Catherine Marquis-Favre and Kin-Che Lam
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14(12), 1478; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14121478 - 30 Nov 2017
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3744
Abstract
Structural equation modeling was used to analyze partial and total in situ annoyance in combined transportation noise situations. A psychophysical total annoyance model and a perceptual total annoyance model were proposed. Results show a high contribution of Noise exposure and Noise sensitivity to [...] Read more.
Structural equation modeling was used to analyze partial and total in situ annoyance in combined transportation noise situations. A psychophysical total annoyance model and a perceptual total annoyance model were proposed. Results show a high contribution of Noise exposure and Noise sensitivity to Noise annoyance, as well as a causal relationship between noise annoyance and lower Dwelling satisfaction. Moreover, the Visibility of noise source may increase noise annoyance, even when the visible noise source is different from the annoying source under study. With regards to total annoyance due to road traffic noise combined with railway or aircraft noise, even though in both situations road traffic noise may be considered background noise and the other noise source event noise, the contribution of road traffic noise to the models is greater than railway noise and smaller than aircraft noise. This finding may be explained by the difference in sound pressure levels between these two types of combined exposures or by the aircraft noise level, which may also indicate the city in which the respondents live. Finally, the results highlight the importance of sample size and variable distribution in the database, as different results can be observed depending on the sample or variables considered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)
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