Personal Noise Exposure in Daily Life : A Study on Personal Exposure and Reaction to Noise Part I

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to gain a knowledge of the relation between the amount of personal exposure and his reaction to noise in his daily life. In this paper we discuss the details of noise exposure of 216 people who live in Sendai. The equivalent sound level L_eq is recorded every ten minutes over 24 hours and L_<eq(24)> is measured, too. Some of the findings from analysis of those data are as follows: 1)There is no difference in L_<eq(24)> among areas of residence, though the difference is seen among their daily activities. Especially for workers, the amount of L_<eq(24)> is dependent on the kinds of their work and their means of commutation. 2)Average difference in value between L_<eq> during some activities when the respondent felt annoyed and his L_<eq(24)> is found to be about 4dB. No significant difference is seen in this average value between Noisy Group (L_<eq> during working &ge; 80dB(A)) and Non-noisy Group (L_<eq> during working<80dB(A)). This fact suggests that there might exist hazard of insidious adaptation to noise in our daily life.