Testing psychoacoustic parameters for innovative noise reduction strategies

In cooperation with the Audio Communication and Technical Acoustics departments of the Technical University of Berlin, we were engaged in the "Testing of psychoacoustic parameters for innovative noise reduction strategies" (FE 02.0431/2019/IRB) for the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt).

In three consecutive experiments we investigated the perceptual qualities people associate with road traffic noise and how they evaluate the latter with respect to its annoyance. This allowed us to examine how conventional and new noise control measures change the evaluation of traffic noise and which psychoacoustic parameters play a role in this. Psychoacoustic parameters are technical measurands that can be used to describe a sound source in approximation to auditory sensation qualities. Examples are loudness, sharpness, roughness, fluctuation strength and tonality.

A new approach to noise control is acoustic masking, in which existing sound sources are superimposed by other sounds. These can be, for example, natural sounds such as river ripples or the splashing of fountains. In the project, we investigated how and to what extent these and other new noise control measures can reduce the annoyance of traffic noise and which new psychoacoustic parameters and models can make a significant contribution to this.

The studies in the project were conducted together with our partners in the Mixed Reality Design Lab of TU Berlin and UdK Berlin.

This report is based on parts of the research work carried out for the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, represented by the Federal Highway Research Institute, under FE-Nr. 02.0431/2019/IRB. Responsibility for the content lies solely with the author.