Subjective Evaluation on the Annoyance of Environmental Noise Containing Low-Frequency Tonal Components

Miki Yonemura, Hyojin Lee and Shinichi Sakamoto
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Miki Yonemura: Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
Hyojin Lee: Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
Shinichi Sakamoto: Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, Komaba 4-6-1, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-14

Abstract: Recently in Japan, noises from wind turbines and domestic use heat sources sometimes cause an increase in noise annoyance owing to low-frequency tonal components. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the tonal components on the annoyance of the environmental noise. The authors conducted an auditory test in the laboratory to evaluate the annoyance of tonal noise using a seven-step rating method. The stimuli were composed of a broadband noise modeling of the environmental noise (25, 30, and 35 dB) and a low-frequency tonal component. With the tonal component added to the broadband noise, the frequency and tonal audibility were varied to 40, 50, 100, 200, and 400 Hz and 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 dB, respectively. The amount of increase in annoyance owing to the addition of the tonal component was quantitatively evaluated as a tonal adjustment by comparing it with broadband noise. As a result, tonal adjustment ranged from 0 to 7 dB, and the higher the tonal frequency, the larger the value. For the test background noise level, the lower the background noise level of the test sound, the greater the value. This trend suggests that the influence of tonal components on subjective impressions is stronger in quiet environments such as residential areas. This result may provide a basis for the evaluation method, which varies the penalty in the noise evaluation according to the frequency of the pure tones and the noise level.

Keywords: annoyance; environmental noise; tonal audibility; subjective evaluation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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