Sounds perceived as annoying by hearing-aid users in their daily soundscape

Abstract

Background: The noises in the modern soundscapes continue to increase and are a major

Loudness and annoyance of disturbing sounds – perception by normal hearing subjects

“…Some of the negative effects of disturbing sounds are masking of wanted sounds, stress, sound fatigue and distraction (Sjodin et al, 2012;Canlon et al, 2013). Skagerstrand et al (2014) showed that the majority of people with normal hearing or with hearing impairment who used hearing aids experience disturbing sounds in the daily environment. For hearing aid users, this may reduce hearing aid usage (Kochkin, 2005;McCormack & Fortnum, 2013;Skagerstrand et al, 2014) and thereby reduce the ability to perceive wanted signals.…”

“…Skagerstrand et al (2014) showed that the majority of people with normal hearing or with hearing impairment who used hearing aids experience disturbing sounds in the daily environment. For hearing aid users, this may reduce hearing aid usage (Kochkin, 2005;McCormack & Fortnum, 2013;Skagerstrand et al, 2014) and thereby reduce the ability to perceive wanted signals. Sounds often mentioned as annoying in the study of Skagerstrand et al (2014) were verbal human sounds and sounds from TV/radio, vehicles/machines, and porcelain.…”

“…For hearing aid users, this may reduce hearing aid usage (Kochkin, 2005;McCormack & Fortnum, 2013;Skagerstrand et al, 2014) and thereby reduce the ability to perceive wanted signals. Sounds often mentioned as annoying in the study of Skagerstrand et al (2014) were verbal human sounds and sounds from TV/radio, vehicles/machines, and porcelain. These sounds were not disturbing or annoying all the time.…”

“…These sounds were not disturbing or annoying all the time. The participants in the study of Skagerstrand et al (2014) did not rate the level of annoyance, they only judged if the sounds were perceived as annoying or not.…”

“…In the study of Skagerstrand et al (2014), sounds perceived as annoying were categorised into 18 groups. The sounds were reported to be annoying but were not rated for degree of annoyance and it was not obvious why some sounds were perceived as annoying or if some sounds were more annoying than others.…”