Does the Macro-Temporal Pattern of Road Traffic Noise Affect Noise Annoyance and Cognitive Performance?

Beat Schäffer, Armin Taghipour, Jean Marc Wunderli, Mark Brink, Lél Bartha and Sabine J. Schlittmeier
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Beat Schäffer: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Armin Taghipour: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Jean Marc Wunderli: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Mark Brink: Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), 3003 Bern, Switzerland
Lél Bartha: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Sabine J. Schlittmeier: Institute of Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-24

Abstract: Noise annoyance is usually estimated based on time-averaged noise metrics. However, such metrics ignore other potentially important acoustic characteristics, in particular the macro-temporal pattern of sounds as constituted by quiet periods (noise breaks). Little is known to date about its effect on noise annoyance and cognitive performance, e.g., during work. This study investigated how the macro-temporal pattern of road traffic noise affects short-term noise annoyance and cognitive performance in an attention-based task. In two laboratory experiments, participants worked on the Stroop task, in which performance relies predominantly on attentional functions, while being exposed to different road traffic noise scenarios. These were systematically varied in macro-temporal pattern regarding break duration and distribution (regular, irregular), and played back with moderate L Aeq of 42–45 dB(A). Noise annoyance ratings were collected after each scenario. Annoyance was found to vary with the macro-temporal pattern: It decreased with increasing total duration of quiet periods. Further, shorter but more regular breaks were somewhat less annoying than longer but irregular breaks. Since Stroop task performance did not systematically vary with different noise scenarios, differences in annoyance are not moderated by experiencing worsened performance but can be attributed to differences in the macro-temporal pattern of road traffic noise.

Keywords: road traffic noise; macro-temporal pattern; noise indicator; noise annoyance; cognitive performance; Stroop task; listening experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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