Experimental investigation on the effect of some temporal factors of nonsteady noise on annoyance

Abstract

The effects of some temporal factors of nonsteady noise on annoyance was investigated by means of six experiments. The factors are rising speed, fluctuation speed, fluctuation frequency, and fluctuation deviation. The results show that the ratio of annoyance and the rising speed are in linear relation in log-log coordinates and the annoyance increase with the increase of rising speed from 25 to 1000 dB/s corresponds to the increase of sound pressure level of 2.6 dB. The fluctuation speed, the fluctuation frequency, and the fluctuation deviation have little effect on annoyance provided the equivalent sound level (Leq) is constant. The validity of some rating scales of fluctuating noise is discussed on the basis of the present experimental results.