The relationship between age,acceptable noise level,and listening effort in middle-aged and older-aged individuals

Objective:The purpose of the study was to evaluate listening effort in adults who experience varied annoyance towards noise.Materials and methods:Fifty native Kannada-speaking adults aged 41e68 years participated.We evaluated the participant's acceptable noise level while listening to speech.Further,a sentence-final wordidentification and recall test at 0 dB SNR(less favorable condition)and 4 dB SNR(relatively favorable condition)was used to assess listening effort.The repeat and recall scores were obtained for each condition.Results:The regression model revealed that the listening effort increased by 0.6%at 0 dB SNR and by 0.5%at 4 dB SNR with every one-year advancement in age.Listening effort increased by 0.9%at 0 dB SNR and by 0.7%at 4 dB SNR with every one dB change in the value of Acceptable Noise Level(ANL).At 0 dB SNR and 4 dB SNR,a moderate and mild negative correlation was noted respectively between listening effort and annoyance towards noise when the factor age was controlled.Conclusion:Listening effort increases with age,and its effect is more in less favorable than in relatively favorable conditions.However,if the annoyance towards noise was controlled,the impact of age on listening effort was reduced.Listening effort correlated with the level of annoyance once the age effect was controlled.Furthermore,the listening effort was predicted from the ANL to a moderate degree.

Experimental and Numerical Study of the Key Non-Dimensional Geometrical Parameters on the Noise Level of Dry-Type Cast Resin Transformers

Dry-Type Cast Resin Distribution Transformers(CRT)is the secondgeneration of air-cooled distribution transformers where oil is replaced by resin for electrical insulation.CRT transformers may installed indoor adjacent to or near residential areas since they are clean and safe comparing to the conventional transformers.But,as it is obvious,noise discrepancy is intrinsically accompanied with all types of transformers and is inevitable for CRT transformers too.Minimization of noise level caused by such these transformers has biological and ergonomic importance.As it is known the core of transformers is the main source of the noise generation.In this paper,experimental and numerical investigation is implemented for a large number of fabricated CRT transformers in IT Co(Iran Transfo Company)to evaluate the effective geometrical parameters of the core on the overall sound level of transformers.Noise Level of each sample is measured according to criteria of IEC60651 and is reported in units of Decibel(dB).Numerical simulation is done using noncommercial version of ANSYS Workbench software to extract first six natural frequencies and mode shapes of CRT cores which is reported in units of Hz.Three novel non-dimensional variables for geometry of the transformer core are introduced.Both experimental and numerical results show approximately similar response to these variables.Correlation between natural frequencies and noise level is evaluated statistically.Pearson factor shows that there is a robust conjunction between first two natural frequencies and noise level of CRTs.Results show that noise level decreases as the two first natural frequencies increases and vice versa,noise level increases as the two natural frequencies of the core decreases.Finally the noise level decomposed to two parts.

Prediction and Limitations of Noise Maps Developed for Heterogeneous Urban Road Traffic Condition:A Case Study of Surat City,India

Road traffic noise pollution has been recognized as a serious issue which affects human health as well as affects urban regions.Noise maps are very beneficial to identify the impact of noise pollution.A noise mapping study performed to study the propagation of noise in tier-II city along with field measurements.The noise maps are developed using a computer simulation model(SoundPLAN essential 4.0 software).The noise prediction models like U.K’s CoRTN,Germany’s RLS-90,and their modified versions,which can be used for homogenous road traffic conditions,cannot be successfully applied in heterogeneous road traffic conditions of India.In developing country like India,road traffic noise pollution depends on the composition of heterogeneous traffic volume,variance in road geometrical,honking conditions,un-authorized parking,and varying density of the building on either side of the road.These traffic compositions contain vehicles,which have different sizes,speeds variations,a different dimension of vehicles.Because of fluctuating speeds,lack of lane disciplines,and un-authorized parking on main road lanes,honking events becomes inevitable,which changes and affects the urban soundscape of nations like India.Analysis of noise maps showed that horn honking due to un-authorized parked vehicles contributed an additional increase up to 11 dB(A)noise,which is quite significant.

Assessment of Traffic Noise Pollution in Burla Town,India;An InclusiveAnnoyance Study

Noise pollution is one of the major public health problems in urban areas throughout the world.Noise is unwanted sound which produces undesirable problems in day to day life of human being(e.g.,physiological and psychological problems).Rapid increase of the industrialization,urbanization,infrastructure,volume of motor vehicles,and increase in the road networks brought noise pollution to the highest level of disaster in a current situation.In urban areas,road traffic noise plays commanding role among all noise sources and affects the exposed inhabitants.The present work is done to evaluate and assess the traffic noise and its effects in Burla town.Burla,Vidyanagari of Odisha,is an emerging town in India,as it hosts national level of teaching and research institutions like IIM Sambalpur,a medical college-cum-hospital(VIMSAR),a technical university(VSSUT)and Sambalpur University.In last two decade,the road traffic volume has been increased and is facing severe noise pollution to its inhabitants.Noise pollution assessment was made at different locations of the town.This study unveiled the dismal state of noise pollution in the town.Noise contour maps were drawn to visualize the noise level at the traffic and its surroundings.The numbers of hearing impaired patients in different hospitals of the locality are increasing.That shows grim picture of the situation.Regression equations were established taking noise levels with percentage of highly annoyed people during study indicates strong correlation.

Research on Large Volume Airgun Source Signal Reception in Hutubi, Xinjiang Using Seismic Network Data

We used data from the Xinjiang Digital Seismic Network and PSD( Power Spectral Density) method to perform noise level assessment for six stations. We calculated the median of the power spectral density to evaluate the noise level of different stations. After the comparison of the power spectral density of different stations and the airgun signal recognition,we found that noise level of stations with recognizable airgun source signals is lower than that of stations without recognizable signals. The largest difference of the power spectral density is 40 d B,and the smallest is 15 d B. Finally,we found that the failure to recognize the signal of airgun sources at some stations is due to the noise level.

Indoor environmental quality(IEQ)assessment of Nigerian university libraries:A pilot study

An indoor environmental quality(IEQ)assessment of academic libraries in Nigeria was conducted through ob-jective measurements.The selected university libraries were Abubakar Gimba Library;Awwal Ibrahim Library;and Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida Library Complex.The libraries were evaluated under operating conditions and during their peak usage periods.Measurements of the main descriptors of good IEQ,including the acoustical,visual,and thermal comfort conditions were performed using portable IEQ meters.The methodology employed for the assessment of these IEQ descriptors followed prescriptions of international standards ASHRAE standard 55 and ISO 7730.To determine the time of the day in which the library buildings can achieve optimum IEQ,measurements were taken in the morning and afternoon.The results obtained were compared with reference values found in the international Standard CIBSE Guide A for adequate IEQ compliance of academic libraries.The findings of this study are expected to help in improving the IEQ of academic libraries in Nigeria and other parts of the world.

Wavelet-based iterative data enhancement for implementation in purification of modal frequency for extremely noisy ambient vibration tests in Shiraz-Iran

The main purpose of the present study is to enhance high-level noisy data by a wavelet-based iterative filtering algorithm for identification of natural frequencies during ambient wind vibrational tests on a petrochemical process tower.Most of denoising methods fail to filter such noise properly.Both the signal-to-noise ratio and the peak signal-to-noise ratio are small.Multiresolution-based one-step and variational-based filtering methods fail to denoise properly with thresholds obtained by theoretical or empirical method.Duc to the fact that it is impossible to completely denoise such high-level noisy data,the enhancing approach is used to improve the data quality,which is the main novelty from the application point of view here.For this iterative method,a simple computational approach is proposed to estimate the dynamic threshold values.Hence,different thresholds can be obtained for different recorded signals in one ambient test.This is in contrast to commonly used approaches recommending one global threshold estimated mainly by an empirical method.After the enhancements,modal frequencies are directly detected by the cross wavelet transform(XWT),the spectral power density and autocorrelation of wavelet coefficients.Estimated frequencies are then compared with those of an undamaged-model,simulated by the finite element method.