Abstract
A method established by ICBEN (International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise) Team 6 (Community Response to Noise) has been used to develop equivalent noise annoyance scales in nine languages. A key assumption of this method is that subjects who speak different languages interpret the concept of “highest degree” of annoyance similarly. In this study, an experiment was conducted using 73 bilingual subjects to test this assumption and thereby assess the equivalence of the Japanese and English ICBEN scales. All of the bilingual subjects followed a slightly modified version of the ICBEN method to produce scales in both Japanese and English. The results indicate that English- and Japanese-speaking subjects do not differ significantly in their interpretations of the “highest degree” of annoyance. Thus, a key premise of the ICBEN method for producing equivalent scales in different languages was confirmed for English and Japanese. In addition, although the Japanese modifier “hijoni” has frequently been translated as “very,” the results of this study show that “extremely” is a more appropriate translation. Finally, evidence was found that bilingual subjects may differ significantly from monolingual subjects in their interpretations of certain words.
