CALIBRATION OF NOISE ANNOYANCE RATINGS AT WORK

Three methods for calibrating noise annoyance ratings were tested in a group of 206 persons from different work places. One was Master scali ng, which involves calibration for differences in mean ratings as well as the slope of the psychophysical function for seven levels of a pin k noise reference sound. The other two methods calibrated only for dif ferences in mean ratings of reference sounds. The reference sounds wer e either the pink noises or verbal descriptions of three everyday soun ds. Calibration for differences in mean ratings leads to a sixfold inc rease of the variance explained by sound level. Calibrating for differ ences in slope did not lead to any further improvement. The described sounds worked only slightly worse than the recorded sounds as referenc e sounds. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.