Subjective evaluation of heavy-weight impact sounds generated by an impact ball

Abstract

Subjective evaluations of heavy-weight impact sounds generated by an impact ball on reinforced concrete floors in apartment buildings were conducted in order to investigate the effect of loudness and annoyance of floor impact noise. The heavy-weight impact sounds were recorded through dummy heads and classified according to the frequency characteristics of the floor impact sounds. The characteristics of the floor impact noise were investigated by paired comparison tests and semantic differential tests. Sound sources for auditory experiment were selected based on the actual noise levels with perceptual level differences. Auditory experiments were also conducted to investigate the relationship between level indices and subjective responses. The results show that LAeq and LAMAX are highly correlated with subjective response to heavy-weight impact sounds.