Psychoacoustic parameters in noise assessment – A research within the BMDV Network of Experts

This paper is dedicated to the applicability of psychoacoustic parameters for the evaluation of traffic noise. To characterize road traffic noises in detail and to demonstrate the perceptual impact, knowledge of the underlying dimensions that influence the evaluation of traffic sounds in everyday situations is required. In a study, stimulus-dyad comparisons were used to investigate underlying descriptive variables and attributes describing the latent perceptual dimensions of road traffic sounds. The dyads covered the feature space of road traffic sounds and systematically took into account factors such as traffic volume, traffic flow, traffic composition and road surface. The paper explains the experimental methodology, shows the derived attributes, and outlines the development of a questionnaire as a measurement tool to determine the perception of road traffic sounds in detail.