Tools for studying noise effects based on spectral and temporal content

ACCOLTI, ERNESTO; MIYARA, FEDERICO

Lisboa, Portugal

Congreso; 39th International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering (INTER-NOISE); 2010

nternational Institute of Noise Control Engineering (I-INCE), Portuguese Acoustical Society (SPA) and the Spanish Acoustical Society (SEA)

A research paradigm for the perception, effects in the human being and assessment of environmental noise is described. It is based on the analysis of several kinds of sounds that compose such environmental noise. The proposed paradigm studies instantaneous psychoacoustic parameters of each sound that composes environmental noise and its relationship to the corresponding time-averaged parameters and in relation to the multi-layer-timbre composition. The use of algorithms published by the authors’ research group in several scientific meetings is described in an approach that emphasizes the applications to the study of the effects of the noise in the human being. The tools developed within this framework are: a combination tool that generates a realistic environmental sound with controlled parameters (such as the spectrum), a system of virtual auralization that uses an algorithm for calculating the impulse response of rooms, a calibration protocol for audiometric earphones and interactive interfaces that use several anchor sounds for the evaluation of test sounds.