Community response to noise: A review of factors influencing the relationship between noise exposure and reaction

Abstract

Social surveys of the relationship between noise exposure and the subjective reactions to it were reviewed. This review indicated that remarkably similar results have been obtained across different nationalities with different measurement techniques. Only a small percentage (typically less than 20%) of the variation in individual reaction is accounted for by noise exposure. Analysis of potential errors in both measurement of noise and reaction suggests that elimination of errors would only slightly increase the observed correlations. Variables, such as attitude to the noise source and sensitivity to noise, account for more variation in reaction than does noise exposure. The weaker relationship between noise exposure and attitude than between reaction and attitude suggests that the attitude/reaction relationship is not entirely due to noise exposure causing a change in attitude itself. Noise/reaction correlations based on individual data are significantly lower in studies of impulsive noise than nonimpulsive noise. This may be caused, in part, by the restricted range of noise exposure studied in some socioacoustic investigations of impulsive noise. However, the significantly higher correlations of attitude and reaction in impulsive noise studies suggest that attitude plays an even larger part, while noise exposure plays a lesser part in determining reaction to impulsive noise, relative to nonimpulsive noise.