Relation between annoyance and single-number quantities for rating heavy-weight floor impact sound insulation in wooden houses

Abstract

This study investigated the relation between annoyance and single-number quantities to rate heavy-weight floor impact sound insulation. Laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the subjective response of annoyance resulting from heavy-weight floor impact sounds recorded in wooden houses. Stimuli had two typical spectra and their modified versions, which simulate the precise change in frequency response resulting from insulation treatments. Results of the first experiment showed that the Zwicker's percentile loudness (N(5)) was the quantity to rate most well annoyance of heavy-weight impact sound over a wide sound level range. The second experiment revealed that arithmetic average (L(iFavg,Fmax)) of octave-band sound pressure levels measured using the time constant "fast" and Zwicker's percentile loudness (N(5)) much better described annoyance by the precise change in the sound spectrum attributable to insulation treatments than Japanese standardized single-number quantities (L(i,Fmax,r), L(iA,Fmax), and L(i,Fmax,Aw)) do. Japanese standardized single-number quantities using the A-weighting curve as a rating curve were found to be excessively influenced by the 63 Hz octave-band sound level and have the great sound level-dependences in the relation with subjective ratings.

Single-Number Quantities of Heavyweight Impact Sound Insulation

“…The results of this study are consistent with the findings of previous studies [11,12], in which there were high correlation coefficients between the SNQs and subjective responses. Lee et al [12] used nine rubber ball impact sounds recorded in heavyweight buildings with constant noise levels of 50 dB (L i,Fmax,Aw ).…”

“…High correlation coefficients above 0.88 were consistently found across sound stimuli with different spectral characteristics. LL Z showed the highest correlation coefficients, followed by L iA,Fmax and N max .R yu et al [11] conducted twos eparate experiments with rubber ball impact sounds from wooden structures. In the first experiment with an arrows ound levelr ange between 45 and 65 dB (L iA,Fmax ), N 5 showed the highest correlation coefficient, while the other SNQs showed similar coefficients.…”

Subjective Response to Foot-Fall Noise, Including Localization of the Source Position

“…However, no empirical data that support such ahypothesis have been found in the references dealing with assessment of subjective perception of neighbors' noise, e.g., [2,3,5,6,7,8]. Instead, [9,10] indicate that the opposite can be the case, that directive information of the source might reduce the annoyance.…”

Effect of temporal decay on perception of heavy-weight floor impact sounds

“…7,8 Since heavy-weight impact sounds are characterized by low frequencies, it is not easy to reproduce the stimuli only with headphones, especially for frequencies below 63 Hz. Thus, a subwoofer was added to the presentation system in order to sufficiently reproduce the low frequency sounds (below 63 Hz) to the subjects.…”

“…They found that the spectral characteristics significantly contributed to the annoyance perception caused by impact sounds. Ryu et al 8 also reported that annoyance ratings were affected by spectral characteristics of floor impact sounds recorded from wooden houses. Jeon et al 9 investigated the effect of spatial factors on annoyance caused by heavy-weight impact sounds through auditory tests and found that spatial characteristics such as mean value and temporal variation of interaural cross-correlation (IACC) contributed independently to the scale value of annoyance.…”