Adjustment on subjective annoyance of low frequency noise by adding additional sound

Structure-borne noise originating from a heat pump unit was selected to study the influence on subjective annoyance of low frequency noise (LFN) combined with additional sound. Paired comparison test was used for evaluating the subjective annoyance of LFN combined with different sound pressure levels (SPL) of pink noise, frequency-modulated pure tones (FM pure tones) and natural sounds. The results showed that, with pink noise of 250–1000 Hz combined with the original LFN, the subjective annoyance value (SAV) first dropped then rose with increasing SPL. When SPL of the pink noise was 15–25 dB, SAV was lower than that of the original LFN. With pink noise of frequency 250–20,000 Hz added to LFN, SAV increased linearly with increasing SPL. SAV and the psychoacoustic annoyance value (PAV) obtained by semi-theoretical formulas were well correlated. The determination coefficient (R2) was 0.966 and 0.881, respectively, when the frequency range of the pink noise was 250–1000 and 250–20,000 Hz. When FM pure tones with central frequencies of 500, 2000 and 8000 Hz, or natural sounds (including the sound of singing birds, flowing water, wind or ticking clock) were, respectively, added to the original sound, the SAV increased as the SPL of the added sound increased. However, when a FM pure tone of 15 dB with a central frequency of 2000 Hz and a modulation frequency of 10 Hz was added, the SAV was lower than that of the original LFN. With SPL and central frequency held invariable, the SAV declined primarily when modulation frequency increased. With SPL and modulation frequency held invariable, the SAV became lowest when the central frequency was 2000 Hz. This showed a preferable correlation between SAV and fluctuation extent of FM pure tones.

► Subjective annoyance of LFN was compared after combined with additional sound.
► Combined with pink noise may alleviate the subjective annoyance of LFN.
► The SAV and PAV obtained by formulas presented a good correlative relationship.