Niek J. Versfeld
Joos Vos
Frank W. M. Geurtsen
TNO Human Factors Res. Inst., P.O. Box 23, 3769 ZG Soesterberg, The Netherlands
A laboratory experiment has been conducted to assess the noise annoyance of individual vehicle pass-bys as a function of sound level. Vehicle type varied from passenger cars to heavy tanks. Results showed that for each individual vehicle type, the A-weighted sound exposure level (SEL) was the most important predictor of the annoyance. However, at a given annoyance, the difference in level between different vehicle types could be as high as 11 dBA SEL. The difference in level between the high-frequency part and the low-frequency part of the spectrum seemed to play a role in the annoyance, in that sounds containing relatively much high-frequency energy (e.g., passenger cars) were judged as being more annoying than those having relatively much low-frequency energy (such as tanks). [Work supported by the Ministry of Defence.]