How some sounds impact on lives

Tjeerd Andringa , Jolie Lanser

How does sound annoyance influence lives and which factors determine the level of annoyance? Many surveys have investigated the health and well-being correlates of loudness. However these surveys have not focused on the question how some sounds, and not others, impact the lives of individuals. We have conducted a web-based survey with more than 70 questions that investigated this question. The results show that 1) sound annoyance is a multi-facetted phenomenon that indicates impaired need satisfaction and 2) that the role of loudness in sound annoyance is less prominent than is often (implicitly) assumed. In fact sound annoyance seems to depend on three necessary conditions: audibility, involuntary attraction of attention, and interference with need satisfaction. We present the main results of the questionnaire and provide a list of recommendations to prevent avoidable sound annoyance suitable for sound producers, exposed public, and local governments.

Mots clés: Sound Annoyance; health; loudness; needs

Domaines: Acoustique [physics.class-ph]

Tjeerd Andringa, Jolie Lanser. How some sounds impact on lives. Acoustics 2012, Apr 2012, Nantes, France. ⟨hal-00811310⟩