Psychoacoustic correlates of individual noise sensitivity

Abstract

In environmental noise surveys, self-reported noise sensitivity, a stable personality trait covering attitudes toward a wide range of environmental sounds, is a major predictor of individual noise-annoyance reactions. Its relationship to basic measures of auditory functioning, however, has not been systematically explored. Therefore, in the present investigation, a sample of 61 unselected listeners was subjected to a battery of psychoacoustic procedures ranging from threshold determinations to loudness scaling tasks. No significant differences in absolute thresholds, intensity discrimination, simple auditory reaction time, or power-function exponents for loudness emerged, when the sample was split along the median into two groups of "low" vs "high" noise sensitivity on the basis of scores obtained from a psychometrically evaluated questionnaire [Zimmer and Ellermeier, Diagnostica 44, 11-20 (1998)]. Small, but systematic differences were found in verbal loudness estimates, and in ratings of the unpleasantness of natural sounds, thus suggesting that self-reported noise sensitivity captures evaluative rather than sensory aspects of auditory processing.

Mental chronometry and individual differences: Modeling reliabilities and correlations of reaction time means and effect sizes

“…As one example, an alternative approach for investigating individual differences is to divide participants into groups based on one variable (e.g., age or IQ) and then to compare mean RTs and RT differences across the groups (e.g., Der & Deary, 2006;Dickman & Meyer, 1988;Eaton & Ritchot, 1995;Ellermeier, Eigenstetter, & Zimmer, 2001;Exposito & Andres-Pueyo, 1997;Myerson, Hale, Chen, & Lawrence, 1997;Smulders & Meijer, 2008). A persistent problem within this approach is to make a fair comparison of the sizes of RT differences across groups differing in overall mean RT.…”

Soundscape evaluation in Han Chinese Buddhist temples

“…Schwarz explored Israeli tourists' preferences regarding the appropriate and desired soundscape in nature sites, and the result shows that the comprehension of noise depends on their social identification, and also on the mode of touristic engagement they employ [16]. Ellermeier et al suggested that self-reported noise sensitivity captures evaluative rather than sensory aspects of auditory processing [17]. The studies noted above show that, in different places, the objective sound level and the respondents' many subjective factors produce a certain effect on people's soundscape evaluations.…”

Personality Traits Bias the Perceived Quality of Sonic Environments

“…Job [16] suggested that noise sensitivity is produced by two latent factors, which make an individual more vulnerable to noise in general: sensitivity to distant, louder noises (e.g., a traffic drone), and sensitivity to close, quieter noises (e.g., a distracting voice). It is a predictor of annoyance [12] but it is independent of noise exposure [16], hearing acuity [13], or a "predisposition to perceive sound events more intensely" ( [35], pp. 1471-1472).…”