Development and validation of a new adaptive weighting for auditory risk assessment of complex noise

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) still remains as a serious occupational related health problem worldwide. A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level (SPL) LAeq has been widely used to assess the auditory risk of occupational noises in noise measurements standards. In addition, C-weighting is also used in the standards for detection of peak SPL of noise. However, both A-weighting and C-weighting have limitations on evaluation of high-level complex noise, which is often experienced in many military and industrial fields. In this study, we proposed a new adaptive weighting (F-weighting) for more accurate evaluation of complex noises. F-weighting is based on the blending of A-weighting and C-weighting through the weighting coefficients αA,T and αC,T. To determine αA,T and αC,T, two parameters, kurtosis (KT) and oscillation coefficient (OT) were introduced. Complex noise exposures in animal studies and noise signals measured in a mining facility were applied to validate the performance of F-weighting. The results show that F-weighting performs better than both A-weighting and C-weighting on the assessment of high-level complex noise. In addition, F-weighting based LFeq shows higher correlation with the hearing loss of the animal experimental data compared with A-weighted LAeq, C-weighted LCeq, and Non-weighted Leq. The proposed F-weighting could be a potential alternative weighting for the assessment of high-level complex noise in military and industrial applications.