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International Journal of Audiology

ISSN: 1499-2027 (Print) 1708-8186 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/iija20

Loudness and annoyance of disturbing sounds –


perception by normal hearing subjects

Åsa Skagerstrand, Susanne Köbler & Stefan Stenfelt

To cite this article: Åsa Skagerstrand, Susanne Köbler & Stefan Stenfelt (2017) Loudness and
annoyance of disturbing sounds – perception by normal hearing subjects, International Journal of
Audiology, 56:10, 775-783, DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2017.1321790

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2017.1321790

© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa


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Published online: 09 May 2017.

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International Journal of Audiology 2017; 56: 775–783

Original Article

Loudness and annoyance of disturbing sounds – perception by


normal hearing subjects

Åsa Skagerstrand1,2,3 , Susanne Köbler1,2,3, and Stefan Stenfelt3,4


1
Audiological Research Centre, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden, 2School of Health Sciences, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden,
3
Linnaeus Centre HEAD, Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Örebro, Sweden, and 4Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine,
Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

Abstract
Objective: Sounds in the daily environment may cause loudness and annoyance. The present study investigated the perception of loudness
and annoyance for eight different sounds present in a daily sound environment and at nine different levels varying by ±20 dB around the
recorded level. The outcomes were related to tests of participants’ auditory and cognitive abilities. Design: The participants undertook
auditory and working memory (WM) tests prior to ratings of everyday sounds previously shown to be disturbing for persons with hearing
impairment (hearing aid users). Study sample: Twenty-one participants aged between 24 and 71 years, with normal hearing threshold levels.
Results: Both perceived loudness and annoyance were primarily driven by the sound level. Sounds emitted from paper were rated as having
greater loudness and being more annoying than the other sound sources at the same sound level. Auditory and cognitive abilities did not
influence the perception of loudness and annoyance. Conclusions: Loudness and annoyance ratings were mainly driven by sound level.
Expectations of a sound seemed to influence the assessment of loudness and annoyance while auditory performance and WM capacity
showed no influence on the ratings.

Key Words: Psychoacoustics/hearing science, noise, psycho-social/emotional, behavioural measures

Introduction annoying in the study of Skagerstrand et al. (2014) were verbal


human sounds and sounds from TV/radio, vehicles/machines,
The daily acoustic environment contains sounds with large spectral
and porcelain. These sounds were not disturbing or annoying all
and temporal variations (Raimbault & Dubois, 2005; Irwin et al,
the time. The participants in the study of Skagerstrand et al. (2014)
2011). Many of those sounds can be described as noise. Noise is
did not rate the level of annoyance, they only judged if the sounds
considered to be disturbing, as it affects the ability to perceive
were perceived as annoying or not.
wanted signals, e.g. to understand speech. Most people are exposed
The perception of disturbing sounds can be affected by many
to disturbing sounds and their negative effects (Laszlo et al, 2012;
parameters, both acoustical and psychological. Two perceptual
Sjodin et al, 2012). Some of the negative effects of disturbing aspects were chosen to be studied: loudness and annoyance.
sounds are masking of wanted sounds, stress, sound fatigue and Berglund et al. (1976) argued that there was a strong correlation
distraction (Sjodin et al, 2012; Canlon et al, 2013). Skagerstrand between noisiness, loudness, annoyance and sound pressure level,
et al. (2014) showed that the majority of people with normal hearing although they also discussed the possibility of other factors
or with hearing impairment who used hearing aids experience affecting disturbance. It is generally accepted that the intensity of
disturbing sounds in the daily environment. For hearing aid users, a sound has a large impact on loudness perception. Kumar et al.
this may reduce hearing aid usage (Kochkin, 2005; McCormack & (2008) argued that the unpleasantness of a sound is primarily
Fortnum, 2013; Skagerstrand et al, 2014) and thereby reduce the associated with the intensity of the sound for frequencies between
ability to perceive wanted signals. Sounds often mentioned as 2.4 and 5.5 kHz. Loudness is a commonly used concept with a

Correspondence: Åsa Skagerstrand, Audiological Research Centre, Örebro University Hospital, S-70185 Örebro, Sweden. E-mail: asa.skagerstrand@regionorebrolan.se

(Received 7 June 2016; revised 10 April 2017; accepted 17 April 2017)

ISSN 1499-2027 print/ISSN 1708-8186 online ß 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-
commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.
DOI: 10.1080/14992027.2017.1321790
776 Å. Skagerstrand et al.

variety of definitions, all describing the perception of sound Method


magnitude. Fletcher & Munson (1933) described loudness as a
‘‘psychological term used to describe the magnitude of an auditory The study was approved by the regional ethical committee in
sensation’’, and pointed out the complexity in judgment of sounds. Uppsala, Sweden, Dnr 2008/059.
Loudness is here defined as ‘‘the attribute of auditory sensation
in terms of which sounds can be ordered on a scale extending
Participants
from quiet to loud’’ (Moore, 2004, p. 127). It is influenced by the
Inclusion criteria for participation were: age between 18 and 80 years,
spectral content and temporal variations of the sound as well as
hearing threshold levels for the audiometric frequencies (0.125–
by intensity.
8 kHz) 20 dB HL or better for both ears, and present transient
Annoyance is a psychological phenomenon vaguely defined in
otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) at frequencies between 1.0 and
previous research as a reaction to noise but also as an issue of
4.0 kHz measured at 84 dB peSPL. Participants were recruited by an
health, e.g. stress-related symptoms (Stansfeld & Matheson, 2003;
advertisement in the county daily newspaper. In total, 37 people
Gidlöf-Gunnarsson & Öhrström, 2007; Basner et al, 2014). In this
expressed interest in participating, and 21 of these met the inclusion
study, we use the definition in ISO 15 666 (SIS, 2002): ‘‘annoy-
criteria and participated in the study. The excluded people (16) had a
ance: a person’s individual adverse reaction to noise’’. The term
hearing loss exceeding 20 dB HL. Prior to inclusion, the baseline pure
reaction to noise denotes an emotional response and may be related
tone hearing thresholds were measured with the Hughson-Westlake
to dissatisfaction and bother due to the sound (Holm Pedersen,
procedure in a sound proof booth for both air and bone conduction
2007).
using an Interacoustic AC40 audiometer calibrated according to IEC
The acoustics of a sound, degree of hearing impairment and
60645-1 (IEC, 2012). To investigate the integrity of the outer hair
cognition are factors that may influence the perception of loudness
cells, TEOAEs were measured bilaterally at 84 dB peSPL with an
and annoyance. Schlittmeier et al. (2015) showed that both
Otodynamics ILO OAE system version 6. The TEOAEs were
attention and memory functions were affected by background
measured in half-octave wide bands with centre frequencies 1.0,
noise. For a long duration sound, such as a sentence, Glasberg &
1.4, 2.0, 2.8 and 4.0 kHz. Six of the participants were male and 15 were
Moore (2002) argued that judgement of long-term loudness
female and the participants had a mean age of 55 years (range 24-71
probably involved high-level cortical processes thereby involving
years). All participants gave informed consent prior to their partici-
memory functions. Lee & Jeon (2013) found that annoyance from
pation in the study.
multiple noise sources correlated negatively with a free recall
No reimbursements were made to the participants.
memory task while Alimohammadi et al. (2013) did not find a
correlation between rated annoyance from low-frequency noise
and the speed on a Stroop test.
A cognitive ability shown to be affected by noise is working Measurements
memory (WM) (Jahncke et al, 2011; Hua et al, 2014), a cognitive Measurements are described according to the test order. The test
system that involves short time storage and processing with a sessions lasted between 2 and 3 hours, with the possibility of
limited capacity (Daneman & Carpenter, 1980). People with good pausing when needed. Sensitivity to intense sounds was assessed by
WM capacity can expend more effort to extract a target signal in measuring uncomfortable levels for pure tones (UCL) at 0.25, 0.5,
noise than people with poor WM capacity, resulting in better 1, 1.5, 2, 3 and 4 kHz. The maximum level used was 110 dB HL.
performance (Rönnberg et al, 2016). Moreover, people with good The ability to understand speech in noise was estimated using the
WM capacity are better at ignoring irrelevant signals than people Swedish hearing in noise test (HINT) (Hällgren et al, 2006). This
with poor WM capacity (Sorqvist et al, 2012). The ability to attend was done in a sound field with speech and noise from one
to an auditory signal and supress unwanted sounds is influenced by loudspeaker at 0 azimuth using the AC40 audiometer. The speech
both auditory factors and WM capacity (Mattys et al, 2012; signal was fixed at a level of 60 dB SPL and the noise level was
Oberfeld & Klockner-Nowotny, 2016). Consequently, WM capacity adaptively varied in steps of 2 dB, as described in Hällgren et al.
may influence the ability to ignore surrounding sounds and thereby (2006). To investigate subjective noise sensitivity, the Weinstein
influence the annoyance caused by the sound. However, whether questionnaire was used (Weinstein, 1978). This consists of 20
cognitive capacity, such as WM, interacts with perceived annoyance statements with degrees of agreement graded from 1 to 6.
has not been reported. WM capacity was assessed by the Reading Span Test (Daneman
In the study of Skagerstrand et al (2014), sounds perceived as & Carpenter, 1980). This test examines WM using a dual task. The
annoying were categorised into 18 groups. The sounds were participant is requested to process three-word sentences by judging
reported to be annoying but were not rated for degree of them as semantically correct or not, e.g. ‘‘The ball bounced low’’ or
annoyance and it was not obvious why some sounds were ‘‘The chisel laughed quietly’’ (translated from Swedish). After a
perceived as annoying or if some sounds were more annoying certain number of sentences (3–5), the participant is prompted to
than others. To investigate this further, the eight sound sources repeat either the first or last word in each sentence, in order of
most mentioned from that study, except verbal human sounds, appearance. Before testing, a training session with two sentences
were chosen to evaluate the perception of loudness and was presented. In the current implementation, the number of
annoyance, the relationship between the two, and the possible sentences before word recall was 3, 4 and 5, each presented twice.
influence of WM. Consequently, the maximum score for correct word recall was 24
In summary, the aims of the study were to investigate the (Rönnberg et al, 1989).
annoyance and loudness of eight everyday sound sources as a The loudness and annoyance of the sounds were assessed using
function of sound pressure level for participants with normal rating tests (Cox et al, 1997). The tests were performed in an
hearing and to explore if auditory tests and tests of WM were anechoic chamber at the Audiological Research Centre, Örebro,
correlated with ratings of loudness and annoyance. Sweden, and the sounds were presented via a Tannoy system 800
Disturbing sounds for normal hearing people 777
Table 1. Rating test labels. were measured by a sound level metre (Brüel & Kjær 2260) with
Loudness Annoyance third-octave bandwidth resolution and fast time weighting (125 ms
integration time). The recorded levels were used as the ‘‘normal’’
Unpleasant 7 Unpleasant playback level during the sound ratings. The levels of the sounds
Very loud 6 Extremely annoying
were randomly varied over a range of ±20 dB around the recorded
Loud 5 Very annoying
Comfortable 4 Annoying
level in steps of 5 dB during the rating procedure. This resulted in
Soft 3 Slightly annoying nine levels for each sound, each presented repeatedly until the
Very soft 2 Not annoying participant had rated the sound. To prevent uncomfortable and
Inaudible 1 Inaudible hazardous stimulation levels, the maximum level was set at 100 dB
SPL (RMS). This meant that for three sounds (cutlery, electric
mixer, power drill), the maximum level was 15 dB above the
loudspeaker (frequency range 0.02–20 kHz) in front of the listener. recorded level and eight levels were rated for those sounds.
The system was calibrated, both prior to and after testing, to ensure
correct sound levels at the position of the centre of the participant’s
head (with the listener absent). The participants rated loudness and
Loudness predictions
degree of annoyance on labelled scales, as described in Table 1,
To enable comparison between perceived loudness and predicted
where higher ratings indicate that the sound was perceived as louder
loudness the loudness of the sounds was estimated using the
or more annoying.
2014TV Model, a loudness model for time varying sounds (Moore,
The ratings were obtained for eight sounds each presented at
2014). The predictions of loudness were computed in MatLab
nine levels. The sound types and levels were randomly ordered
R2008A (MathWorksTM) using the recorded waveform as input and
across participants. Each sound level was presented to each
scaled over the range of ±20 dB as for the rated sounds. In the
participant 3–4 times for estimation, as previous studies suggest
model, the free-field frontal incidence function was used. No
that two to four estimates are adequate for a reliable result in
correction for the frequency response of the loudspeaker was used.
loudness rating (Robinson & Gatehouse, 1996). The number of
For the analysis, the maximum value of the long-term loudness was
presentations at each level for an individual was based on the
used (Glasberg & Moore, 2002).
investigator’s assessment of the certainty of the participant.
The ratings were made separately for loudness and annoyance.
The participants were carefully instructed about the difference
between loudness and annoyance (see definitions in the introduc- Acoustic features of the sound stimuli
tion). All participants received the same instructions and were The temporal and spectral properties and the amplitude histograms
allowed to ask questions if anything was unclear. The instructions, of the sounds were analysed with the PULSE software from Brüel &
orally given separately for loudness and annoyance, were: ‘‘You Kjær. The results of the analysis are presented in Figure 1.
will hear short audio examples, one type of sound at a time. There
will be audio examples from documents, newspaper, traffic, electric
mixer, power drill, porcelain, cutlery, and water. You will hear one Statistical analysis
sound sample at a time, each sound several times where the strength Statistical analysis was conducted to reveal associations, if any,
will vary. The strength of the sound will never be more intense than between personal factors, audiological and cognitive outcomes, and
the uncomfortable level we measured earlier. For each short sound ratings of loudness and annoyance. This was accomplished by
example, I want you to assess how loud you think that the sound is grouping the participants according to age, speech in noise scores,
on this 7-point scale. Try to evaluate the sound just as a sound, and sound sensitivity (Weinstein and UCL), and WM capacity (reading
not on what kind of sound it is. In the next part, I want you to assess span test). The cut off points for subgroups were set to median
how annoying you experience the sounds, on this 7-point scale. If values of the group except for UCL where the cut off was set to
you find the sound annoying and, only if you perceive it as such, 100 dB SPL, the maximum RMS value of the used sound examples.
how annoying you find it. Try to ignore the loudness of the sound The hypothesis was that subjects with high or no measureable UCL
and just assess the annoyance’’. would, at high sound levels, rate the loudness as lower as and less
annoying than subjects with lower UCLs. No analysis of gender was
done due to the skewed distribution.
Stimuli Data were analysed with several statistical approaches. A
Eight of the sounds identified as disturbing by most participants in general overview of the data was given by descriptive statistics.
daily situations in a previous study (Skagerstrand et al, 2014) were Correlation analysis was performed in order to reveal associations
chosen for the current study. These were sounds from: (1) flipping between demographic data and auditory as well as cognitive test
through documents, (2) turning pages in a newspaper, (3) traffic, (4) results. T-tests were used for paired comparisons between rating
electric mixer, (5) power drill, (6) hitting porcelain, (7) clanging of results for groups according to demographic, auditory and cognitive
cutlery and (8) running water in the sink. For high ecology, all measurement results. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to
stimuli were recorded in an authentic environment. The sound of reveal associations between the ratings of loudness and annoyance
traffic was recorded along a main road in a city of 100,000 and sound sources, sound pressure levels, and personal factors such
inhabitants during an afternoon and the other sounds were recorded as age and results on the auditory and WM tests. The statistical
in a reverberant home environment with background sounds from analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics software, version
e.g. ventilation and refrigerator allowed. The recordings and the 22 (Chicago, IL). Differences between groups were considered as
sound measurements were made at the position of the ear of a statistically significant at p50.05. No corrections for multiple
listener. The levels of the sound sources at the time of recording comparisons were used in the statistical analysis.
778 Å. Skagerstrand et al.

Figure 1. (a and b) Temporal, (c and d) spectral and (e and f) relative occurrence of sound pressure level for the sound stimuli. The left
panel shows sound from traffic, water, newspaper, and documents, and the right panel sound from electric mixer, drilling machine, cutlery
and porcelain.

Results
Fullgrabe et al. (2015). The reading span test showed a mean value
Demographic data of 12.9 points (SD 3.1) out of a possible 24 points, indicating
The results of the auditory tests and the test of WM capacity are normal WM capacity (Rönnberg et al, 1989).
presented as means and standard deviations (SD) in Table 2. When the participants were subgrouped according to age, the
All participants had an auditory dynamic range exceeding 95 dB older participants had significantly higher PTAs, worse reading
(computed as UCLtones – HTLtones) at all tested frequencies between span scores, higher HINT SNRs and lower UCLs than the younger
0.25 and 4 kHz. Increased subjective noise sensitivity according to participants (Table 2). Only age was significantly different between
the Weinstein questionnaire was found for three participants who groups when the participants were subgrouped based on the HINT
had scores slightly over 96 (calculated as the mean +1SD according scores while age and HINT scores were statistically different
to Belojevic et al, 1992). Scores for the HINT test varied between between the groups based on the reading span scores. The HINT
–5.1 and –2.0 dB SNR (signal-to-noise ratio), with a mean value of scores were negatively correlated with the reading span scores,
–3.1 dB (SD 0.96), indicating normal speech perception (Hällgren et r ¼ 0.44. Subgrouping the participants according to UCL
al, 2006). The HINT SNRs were correlated with age, r ¼ 0.611, with indicated that participants with lower UCLs had better speech in
higher SNRs being needed with increasing age, consistent with noise perception.
Disturbing sounds for normal hearing people 779
Table 2. Results of the auditory and cognitive tests for all participants and for the subgroups divided by median value.
PTA4 [dB HL] HINT Reading Weinstein
n Better ear/worse ear Age [years] [dB SNR] span questionnaire UCL [dB HL]
All subjects 21 5.0 (5.2)/6.9 (5.6) 55.2 (14.6) –3.1 dB (0.96) 12.85 (3.1) 80.0 (15.9) 102.1 (6.8)
Age 1  62 years 11 2.3* (2.7)/3.7* (2.8) 45.3** (13.8) –3.72** (0.9) 14.6** (2.8) 82.2 (11.8) 98.7* (7.1)
Age 2462 years 10 8.1*(5.7)/10.4* (6.0) 66.2** (2.9) –2.49** (0.5) 11.1** (2.1) 77.6 (19.8) 105.8* (3.8)
HINT 1 SNR 4–2.7 dB 12 5.83 (6.1)/8.02 (6.2) 63.2** (6.0) –2.42* (0.3) 12.17 (3.5) 80.0 (19.1) 103.1 (6.6)
HINT 2 SNR –2.7 dB 9 4.03 (3.8)/5.42 (4.8) 44.7** (12.6) –4.09* (0.6) 13.88 (2.2) 80.0 (11.4) 100.6 (7.1)
Reading span 1 RS 12 12 5.63 (6.3)/7.60 (6.8) 61.0* (9.8) –2.78* (0.9) 10.75* (1.3) 79.42 (19.0) 102.8 (6.7)
Reading Span 2 RS 412 9 4.31 (3.5)/5.97 (4.4) 47.6* (16.9) –3.61* (0.9) 16.0* (2.1) 80.78 (11.6) 101.1 (7.2)
Weinstein 1: 78 11 6.46 (5.1)/8.96 (5.8) 56.7 (15.4) –3.02 (0.9) 12.91 (3.3) 69.5* (10.7) 104.1 (5.6)
Weinstein 2: 478 10 3.19 (5.1)/4.17 (4.4) 53.3 (14.2) –3.28 (1.1) 12.78 (3.0) 94.0* (9.4) 99.3 (7.6)
UCL1  100 8 2.34 (4.1)/3.91 (4.5) 48.9 (14.5) –3.67* (1.0) 13.75 (2.5) 85.38 (11.4) 94.5** (3.9)
UCL24100 13 6.73 (5.2)/8.75 (5.6) 59.2 (13.8) –2.81* (0.8) 12.25 (3.4) 76.69 (17.7) 106.7** (2.5)

The results are shown as mean values with standard deviation given within brackets.
*Significant difference p50.05.
**Significant difference p50.01.

Figure 2. Average (a) loudness and (b) annoyance ratings for the eight sounds as a function of absolute sound pressure level.
780 Å. Skagerstrand et al.

Rating tests tests showed that sounds from newspaper, documents and traffic
The average loudness and annoyance ratings, as a function of sound were rated significantly (p50.05) higher than remaining sound
pressure level, are presented in Figure 2. For all stimuli, both sources at all levels between 63 and 78 dB SPL for loudness (Figure
loudness and annoyance increased, as expected, with increasing 3(a)). Sounds from newspaper, documents and traffic were always
sound pressure level. The participants rated sounds from docu- ranked loudest with sounds from porcelain as number four (Figure
ments, newspapers and traffic as louder (by 0.5–1.0 units) than other 3(a)). The rank order of the remaining four sounds varied but the
sounds at the same sound pressure levels. The remaining five differences between the sounds were small.
sounds (from porcelain, cutlery, water, power drill and elec- A repeated measure ANOVA with level and sound source as
tric mixer) were approximately equally rated as a function of sound within-factors for the ratings of annoyance showed main effects of
pressure level. Depending on the sound source the participants rated sound pressure level (F(3,57) ¼ 249.328, p50.001) and sound type
a level between 55 and 65 dB SPL to be comfortably loud (Figure (F(7,133) ¼ 10.05, p50.001). The interaction between sound
2(a)). When the sound level reached 80 dB SPL it became very loud pressure level and sound type was significant (F(21,399) ¼ 2.327,
for all sound types. p ¼ 0.001). When the results were further analysed with paired t-
Sounds began to be perceived as annoying at 53–62 dB SPL tests it was shown that sounds from newspaper, documents and
depending on the sound type, and above 79 dB SPL they were traffic were rated as significantly (p5.05) higher than remaining
perceived as very annoying (Figure 2(b)). The annoyance ratings sound sources for levels between 68 and 78 dB SPL (Figure 3(b)).
followed the same pattern as the loudness ratings with increased None of the other t-tests were significant.
annoyance at higher sound pressure levels. Overall, at the same The predictions of the loudness model (Moore, 2014) were
sound pressure levels, sounds from newspaper and documents were calculated for levels between 63 and 78 dB SPL (Figure 3(c)). The
rated as most annoying, followed by sounds from traffic. Sounds model predicted the loudness of the newspaper sound to be slightly
from porcelain were rated about 0.5 units below the most annoying greater than the loudness for sounds from cutlery, porcelain and
sounds and sounds from water around 1 unit below the most documents. The latter three were predicted to have similar loudness
annoying sounds, with sounds from the drill, electric mixer and as a function of sound pressure level. Sounds from the electric
cutlery in between these two. mixer and traffic were predicted to be 3–5 sones less loud than the
A repeated measure ANOVA with sound source and level as top four loudest sounds, but 1–2 sones louder than the two least loud
within-factors for the rating of loudness at sound levels between 63 sounds in the study, sounds from water and the drill.
and 78 dB SPL, for which all sounds had been rated, showed main The scale for the ratings is not directly comparable to the
effects of sound pressure level (F(3,57) ¼ 266.947, p50.001) and loudness in sones predicted by the loudness model, but the rankings
sound type (F(7,133) ¼ 19.386, p50.001), but no significant of the sound can be analysed. For both predicted and rated loudness
interaction (p ¼ 0.082). To reveal the source of the significant sounds from newspaper and documents were ranked as louder than
difference between sound types, paired t-tests were conducted the other sounds. The ratings placed the traffic sounds among the
between the ratings for all sound types at the same levels. These t- four loudest sounds, in contrast to the model, where the loudness of

Figure 3. (a) Average loudness and (b) annoyance ratings at sound pressure levels between 63 and 78 dB SPL. (c) Estimated loudness of
the sounds at the sound pressure levels between 63 and 78 dB SPL based on the loudness model and (d) the geometric mean of the loudness
ratings as a function of the geometric mean of the model predicted loudness.
Disturbing sounds for normal hearing people 781

traffic sounds fell among the less loud sounds. Sounds from In this study, the sounds of the electric mixer, the power drill and
porcelain and cutlery were ranked among less loud sounds, but had cutlery had the highest recorded RMS levels, 82–83 dB SPL. Those
predicted loudness similar to that for the loudest sounds according sounds were expected to give the highest ratings for both loudness and
to the model. annoyance, which they did when comparisons were made at the
The patterns of loudness were similar across levels for all sound recorded levels, but when compared at the same absolute sound levels
types, both when rated and when estimated by the loudness model. To those sounds were perceived as the least loud sounds. This is in line
facilitate comparison of the rated and model estimated loudness for with the loudness model predictions for the power drill and electric
the sounds the geometric means of the loudness values for the four mixer (geometric means for the model of 8.3 and 10.4 sones and
sound pressure levels were computed and shown in Figure 3(d). Once geometric mean of the ratings for both sounds of 4.8). Cutlery was
again, the scales for rated and model predicted loudness are not predicted as the second loudest sound by the model (geometric mean
directly comparable, but Figure 3(d) illustrates that sound from traffic of 13.9 sones) while it was rated as one of the least loud sounds
is rated louder than predicted by the model, and that sound from (geometric mean of 4.8) (Figure 3(d)).
cutlery and porcelain is rated softer than predicted by the model. One sound that was rated as louder than predicted from the
The influence of age, UCL, sound sensitivity, HINT scores and loudness model was traffic sounds (geometric mean for the model of
WM capacity on the ratings of loudness and annoyance was 9.9 sones and geometric mean of the ratings of 5.5). Traffic sounds,
investigated by comparing the results between the subgroups typically representing sounds with a low frequency emphasis, are
(presented in Table 2). Differences in ratings of loudness and often perceived as annoying, at least for levels down to 45 dB SPL
annoyance between the groups were analysed with one-way (Miedema & Oudshoorn, 2001; Torija & Flindell, 2014). In this study,
ANOVAs. According to these analyses, significant differences the traffic sound was on average rated as comfortably loud for levels
were only found for the groups based on UCL, for whom both up to 59 dB SPL, a level slightly above the value of 55 dB SPL which is
loudness and annoyance for sounds from newspaper and water were the recommended maximum level for traffic noise near buildings in
rated higher for the subgroup with lower UCL scores than for the Sweden. Even though the sound from traffic was rated as comfortably
subgroup with higher UCL scores. loud at that level, it was at the same time rated as annoying. This
suggests that low-frequency dominated sounds, such as sounds from
traffic, can be perceived as more annoying than loud. This is contrary
Discussion
to the notion that sounds with energy in the high-frequency region
Previous studies of loudness and annoyance have often been (above 2.5 kHz) are perceived as less pleasant and therefore more
performed in groups with narrow age ranges (e.g. in Kumar et al, annoying than other sounds (Hall et al, 2013). Examples of high-
2008; Bolders et al, 2012; Schlittmeier et al, 2015). Here, the frequency dominated sounds in this study are sounds originating from
participants’ ages ranged between 24 and 71 years. A broad age paper, porcelain and cutlery. Paper sounds were rated as significantly
range enabled analysis of age-related factors that could influence louder and more annoying than the other sounds at the same sound
sound perception, but revealed no significant differences in the pressure levels. Porcelain and cutlery sounds were, in terms of
current rating result. The lack of men among the participants annoyance at a given perceived loudness, rated as similar to the other
prohibited gender analysis of the data. Previously it has been shown sounds even though they had a high-frequency emphasis. Hall et al.
that females were more disturbed by aircraft noise, especially for (2013) suggested that loudness, sharpness, and fluctuation strength
sleep quality (Janssen et al, 2014), whereas gender differences for affect the perception of annoyance. Here it seems that loudness is the
cognitive performances were task dependent (Belojevic et al, 1992). most important of those factors.
It has been shown that the loudness of time-varying sounds is
affected by changes in level over time (Neuhoff, 1998; Olsen et al,
Acoustical factors 2010). It is not clear if the loudness of time varying sounds is primarily
The results indicate that the recorded sounds, previously found as driven by the maximum stimulus level, as suggested by e.g. Ponsot
disturbing by hearing impaired subjects using hearing aids et al. (2013) and Susini et al. (2007), or by values closer to the RMS
(Skagerstrand et al, 2014), are both loud and annoying for people value (Glasberg & Moore, 2002). The sounds in the current study with
with normal hearing when presented at their recorded levels. When the largest temporal variations were sounds from porcelain, cutlery,
a sound exceeds a certain level, regardless of spectrum and temporal newspaper and documents. According to Ponsot et al. (2013) and
pattern, the sound is perceived as loud and/or annoying (Björk et al, Susini et al. (2007), these sounds should be rated as louder and more
2006; Muzet, 2007). In the present study, sound stimuli with peak annoying than the other sounds at the same sound pressure level.
levels close to 100 dB SPL and/or RMS-values above 75 dB SPL, Sounds from documents and newspaper were rated as both louder and
were rated as both very loud and very annoying. The sounds in this more annoying than the other sounds at the same RMS level (Figure
study were presented over a limited range of levels around the 2), but sounds from porcelain and cutlery were rated as being similar to
recorded levels. However, when comparing ratings at the same the other sounds. This indicates that sounds with high-frequency
absolute levels, the participants rated the sounds originating from spectral content and temporal variations are not always perceived as
paper as louder and being more annoying than the other sounds. louder and as more annoying than sounds that do not contain these
This is in line with the predictions from the loudness model for time features.
varying sounds (Moore, 2014). For that model, the overall long-
term loudness can be estimated by either the maximum or the mean
value. Both the mean (Glasberg & Moore, 2002) and the maximum Auditory and cognitive factors
value (Zorila et al, 2016) has been suggested as an estimate for In the analysis, the participants were sub-grouped according to UCL
loudness perception. In the current study, the maximum value was (Table 2), and the cut-off point was set at 100 dB SPL. As stated in the
used since a stable mean was not obtained for the more time varying methods, subjects with high or no measurable UCL were hypothesised
sounds, especially the sound from newspapers. to rate high sound levels as lower and less annoying than subjects with
782 Å. Skagerstrand et al.

lower UCLs. This result was only found for the sounds from 60–65 dB SPL, the paper sounds are at the recorded level while the
newspaper and water; otherwise, the ratings of loudness and sound level of the electric mixer is approximately 20 dB lower
annoyance were similar for the two groups. Some of the participants than recorded. This may lead to a more annoying perception of the
rated themselves as somewhat sensitive to sounds according to the paper sounds than of the electric mixer, as the latter is less loud than
Weinstein questionnaire. Even so, they rated neither loudness nor expected. For people with normal hearing, our results indicate that,
annoyance differently than the other participants. This may indicate as for the perception of loudness, the perception of annoyance is
that psychological factors not investigated in this study affected those primarily related to the sound pressure level. The results also
participants’ responses to the Weinstein questionnaire. indicate that factors other than sound level influence loudness and
The ratings of loudness and annoyance were not affected by WM annoyance ratings.
capacity as measured by the reading span test according to a one-
way ANOVA. It has been shown that WM capacity influenced
Conclusions
performance on work-related tasks in background noise (Hua et al,
2014). Commonly, the influence of WM capacity is tested with a Eight sounds, previously identified as disturbing, were rated for
dual task, imposing a high load on the WM. One possible reason for their loudness and annoyance for levels ranging by ±20 dB around
the lack of influence of WM on ratings might be that a single task the recorded levels. There was a clear influence of sound level on
was used here that is less demanding on the WM capacity. both loudness and annoyance perception. Sounds from documents
Furthermore, the influence of cognition on speech perception is and turning pages in a newspaper were rated as significantly louder
most important when testing close to speech reception thresholds and more annoying than the other sounds at the same RMS sound
(Akeroyd, 2008). When testing at supra-threshold levels, as was level. This finding may be related to spectral content and temporal
done here, the variation in WM capacity might have to be larger in variations. But other factors such as familiarity and expectations
order to show an observable effect. Loudness and annoyance may have influenced the ratings of loudness and annoyance. The
perception may also be independent of WM capacity as found here. results indicate that WM capacity does not affect the perception of
Participants with higher WM capacity showed better speech loudness and annoyance, at least for people with normal hearing.
perception in noise than participants with lower WM capacity. This is Neither age nor UCL or the results of the Weinstein questionnaire
in line with several studies that have investigated the relation between influenced the loudness and annoyance ratings. As the participants
WM capacity and speech perception under adverse conditions had normal hearing thresholds the variation in auditory measures
(Rönnberg et al, 2016). This study supports the idea that cognitive was limited.
capacity is important for demanding tasks such as perception of
speech in noise, than it is for loudness or annoyance perception.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Brian CJ Moore and two anonymous reviewers for
Attitude biased factors helpful comments on the manuscript. Part of this work was presented
The attitude towards a sound source has previously been shown to at the Third International Conference on Cognitive Hearing Science
be important for annoyance ratings (Maris et al, 2007). However, for Communication, Linköping, Sweden 2015.
this study did not gather data on attitudes towards sounds, which
might have influenced the perception of both loudness and
annoyance (Stallen, 1999). For example, noise annoyance has Declaration of interest: No potential conflict of interest was reported
been described in terms of a social psychological model (Maris et by the authors.
al, 2007) which incorporated both external processes (sound and
sound management) and internal processes (perceived disturbance
and/or control) for evaluation of annoyance. When the sound can be ORCID
controlled and adjusted, the disturbance of the sound is often Åsa Skagerstrand http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9799-8844
reduced (Maris et al, 2007). Another issue is that annoyance can be Stefan Stenfelt http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3350-8997
caused by broken concentration and/or changed attention due to the
disturbance (Boman & Enmarker, 2004). This effect was not
considered in the current study.
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