No description available.

This thesis concerns the noise nuisance that results from the operation of urban railways and reports on a case-study of the impact of the Tyneside Metro on residents living in close proximity to the railway tracks. The study was based upon parallel related surveys in the vicinity of Wallsend and Walkergate, during the period August to November 1983: one, a subjective questionnaire survey of perceived noise-nuisance and the other, an objective set of measurements of the actual noise conditions prevailing there. A review of the methods of current practice in the control or urban railway noise demonstrates that regular maintenance of the rails and train wheels is still the most effective way of keeping noise under control at source. Nevertheless, with high speeds of operation, considerable noise nuisance is likely to be experienced by residents nearby. The Metro is the biggest source of noise and noise-nuisance for people exposed to noise levels of over 60 18H Leq dB(A), although the noise annoyance model constructed from the data showed that half of the annoyance felt by respondents could not be explained. Other factors which affect annoyance include vibration, perception of other transport noises, the subjects' ages and whether or not they own the property they occupy. Metro is generally perceived to be quieter and to cause less vibration than the diesel trains (DMUs) which preceded it. The equivalent continuous noise level (Leq) appears to be the most practical of all the various noise indexes for measuring railway noise annoyance. Finally, informal conversation with respondents in the course of a social survey can provide valuable insight into the mental and psychological processes of perception.

国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

This thesis studies the effect of the difference of felt emotion versus expressed emotion on the rate of annoyance in western popular music. It consists of four experiments, the first of which looks at the general effect of the music and change of emotions. The second experiment looks at the effect of lyrics in songs on annoyance, the third at modality and loop type, and the fourth on rhythmic complexity. There is evidence found that points to a difference in felt versus expressed anger predicts an increase in the annoyance rating. The effect of the difference in happy ratings is not as consistent and depends on the song. Familiarity of the song had a slight effect on lowering the annoyance rating. Lyrics, modality, and loop type do not have a main effect on the rate of annoyance. The combination of faster tempos and simpler rhythms reduced annoyance ratings.

No description available.

Air pollution is a well known public health problem that involves both long-term and acute effects. An outcome associated with traffic-related air pollution is respiratory illness. Many studies have described the relationship between asthmatic symptoms and traffic-related air pollution; however, few have investigated the potential of air pollution to cause asthma itself, especially among adults. The overall aim of this thesis was to study the relationship between vehicle exhaust levels at home and the prevalence of self-reported annoyance and asthmatic symptoms, and the incidence of asthma and rhinitis. These relationships were evaluated using different indicators of exposure with a high spatial resolution. Three different data sets were used for the four papers included in this thesis. The first paper (paper I) is based on a questionnaire that was sent to a random selection of the adult population within three Swedish cities (Gothenburg, Uppsala, and Umeå) as part of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s health-related environmental monitoring. The aim was to study the degree of self-reported annoyance and the prevalence of asthmatic symptoms in relation to the levels of vehicle exhaust outside the home. The level of exposure was described using modeled levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) as the exposure indicator. The second paper (paper II) is based on new asthma cases identified within the Obstructive Lung disease In Northern Sweden (OLIN) study, each with a matched referent. The aim of this study was to analyze if new cases of asthma had higher levels of vehicle exhaust outside the home compared to the population controls. Exposure was assessed using both measured levels of NO2 outside each home, and by summarizing the amount of traffic within a 200 metre buffer surrounding each participant’s home. Papers III and IV were based on the Respiratory Health in Northern Europe (RHINE) Cohort, a prospective cohort of adults included in 1990 and followed up with in 1999. The proportion of new cases of asthma (papers III and IV) and rhinitis (paper IV) were identified based on the answers from the initial and follow-up questionnaires. In paper III, exposure was assessed by using meteorological dispersion models to calculate the levels of NO2 outside each home as an indicator of the levels of vehicle exhaust. As an alternative indicator, the distance from each participant’s home to the nearest major road was calculated using geographical information system (GIS) tools. The exposure assessment in paper IV was also based on meteorological dispersion models, but expressed the levels of vehicle exhaust as particle mass concentration. The results show that the levels of vehicle exhaust outside the home are significantly correlated with the degree of self-reported annoyance and the prevalence of asthmatic symptoms, and also with the risk of developing asthma, but not rhinitis, among adults. The odds ratio (OR) for high annoyance to vehicle exhaust and reporting asthmatic symptoms was 1.14 (95% Confidence Interval, CI 1.11-1.18) and 1.04 (95% CI 1.01-1.07) per 1 µg/m3 increase in the NO2 level outside the home, respectively. Paper II showed there was a non-significant tendency for increased risk of developing asthma among those living with high levels of vehicle exhaust outside their home. This finding was then supported by papers III and IV, showing a significant relationship between the onset of asthma and the mean (winter) levels of NO2 outside the home (OR=1.46, 95% CI 1.07-1.99 per 10 µg/m3) and the levels of vehicle exhaust particles outside the home. In paper III, living close to a major road was significantly related to the risk of developing asthma. No significant results were shown between vehicle exhaust and rhinitis. In conclusion, vehicle exhaust outside the home is associated with the prevalence of annoyance and asthmatic symptoms, and with the risk of developing asthma, but not rhinitis, among adults.

In Sweden, all children must have access to education of equal value and the curriculum points out the importance of a good environment for development and learning. Modern working methods differ a lot from the traditional. Teaching nowadays is focused on problem-solving. Students are more interactive, working in groups and projects. The teacher has become a supervisor, guiding not lecturing. Hearing loss, vegetative responses, biochemical effects, speech interference, behavioural effects and subjective reactions are all part of the problem of noise exposure. There is no unequivocal method of assessing noise and its effects. The most common method of noise assessment and appraisal of negative noise reactions is based on measurement of acoustic characteristics. Recommendations made and targets set by authorities are often stated in terms of equivalent Aweighted sound level L (A)eq. The purposes of this thesis have been to increase knowledge of noise exposure in classrooms and the subjective response among pupils and also to identify factors of special importance when assessing negative noise effects in the classroom. The work consists of five separate articles considering different aspects of sound exposure and its adverse effects on pupils in school: three field studies, one article on development of a mood-rating instrument and one laboratory study. Analyses of exposure were based on equivalent sound levels and subjective responses were evaluated using ratings on a visual analogue scale and forced choice questions. The results point to speech and structure-borne sounds as the most annoying sound sources to the pupils. Annoyance will increase with variability of the exposure. This is typical of the character of structure-borne sounds such as footsteps, scraping of chairs and tables and slamming of doors, as well as of speech. The background sound level exposure levels in the classrooms ranged between 33 and 42 dB (A)eq. The background sound in about 2/3 of the classrooms investigated was considered to be LFN. Pupils exposed to high LFN levels were not more annoyed than pupils exposed to low LFN levels. The activity sound level ranged between 47 and 69 dB(A)eq. These are levels that must be considered high for a work environment such as the school, which has at all times to be conducive to steady concentration, communication and learning. The risk of hearing damage during this exposure must be concidered as low. The thesis also describes the development of a mood-rating instrument to identify effects of noise and other aspects of the classroom environment. The questionnaire is easy to administer, takes little time to complete and is therefore well suited to studies in field settings. The ratings of annoyance in the classroom correspond to the verbal definition “Somewhat annoying - Rather annoying”. Data from the field studies does not support the idea that the negative responce will increase with higher sound levels. In the laboratory setting, a relationship between increasing sound level and increase in rated annoyance was displayed. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 2003</p> / digitalisering@umu

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国立情報学研究所で電子化したコンテンツを使用している。

There is not much research done on how traffic noise on schoolyards affect children and teachers although noise pollution from traffic often are high and affect both groups in several ways. It is a well-established fact that a positive sound environment affects health and learning as well as the working capacity by reducing stress levels. The purpose of this study is to examine whether sound pollution is prevalent in elementary schools in Umeå, if the personnel have knowledge pertaining to the effects of sound pollution, and whether the examined schools have specific routines and self-monitoring mechanism for dealing with sound pollution. The study also aims to inquire whether the schools take any preventive measures with regards to minimizing sound pollution and if they have assigned responsibility for these matters to anyone in the organization. Two methods were used in the study, a questionnaire for teachers and interviews with the principals. The questions were formed in such a way so as to shed light on the above mentioned purposes of this study. The answers to the questionnaire illustrate if and how the teachers perceive and deal with sound pollution on the schoolyard. The interview questions aimed to assess the perception of the principals regarding the sound pollution in their respective schools, the level of knowledge the school management had with regards to sound pollution as well as the routines used for ameliorating and preventing sound pollution on the school yard. The study was performed in four elementary schools in the municipality of Umeå and the questionnaire had 32 respondents. One major reason for using a questionnaire was to maximize the amount of respondents in a time efficient manner. The study intends to shed light on a problem (i.e. sound pollution) that schools usually tend to disregard but nevertheless a problem that, possibly, could lead to dire consequences if not taken into account. The results of the study show that 10 of the 32 teachers perceive traffic noise as a problem that affects both children and educational activities negatively on their schoolyard. The results of the study indicate that teachers perceive sound pollution to be a problem on their schoolyard. However, they seem to lack adequate knowledge regarding the health outcome of such noise pollutants. In conclusion, it is evident that teachers need more support information, resources and education in order to enable them to achieve a positive sound environment on their workplace - both for themselves and the children. The results show that there still remains a lot to improve in schools with regards to noise pollution. In many cases, even those responsible at the schools lacked the knowledge necessary to understand the health problems with noise pollution.