Abstract
The present study was conducted in the lobbies of 16 Taiwanese urban
hospitals to establish what contributes to the degree of noisiness
experienced by patients and those accompanying them. Noise level
measurements were then conducted by 15 min equivalent sound pressure
levels (LAeq, 15m, dB) during daytime hours. The average LAeq itself was
found to be poorly related to perceived noisiness. Levels variations were
better correlated, more continual noise may actually be perceived as
noisier. According to the findings of a multiple linear stepwise
regression model (r = 0.91, R2 = 0.83), the 3 independent variables shown
to have the largest effects on perceived noisiness were 1) 1/(L5 − L95),
2) effective duration of the normalized autocorrelation function (τe, h),
of all LAeq, 15m over 9–17, and 3) percentile loudness, N5, 15m. These
results resemble previous studies that had assumed that a larger
fluctuation of noise level corresponds to less annoyance experienced for
mixed traffic noise studied in a laboratory situation. As an advanced
approach, for hospital noise that consisted of 12 audible noise events,
subjective noisiness were evaluated by the noise time structure analyzed
by autocorrelation with loudness and levels variation.
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