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On the definition of noise

Liu, Fangfang; Jiang, Shan; Kang, Jian; Wu, Yue; Yang, Da; Meng, Qi; Wang, Chaowei; (2022) On the definition of noise. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications , 9 (1) , Article 406. 10.1057/s41599-022-01431-x. Green open access

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Abstract

Urbanization has exposed people to extreme sound levels. Although researchers have investigated the ability of people to listen, analyze, and distinguish sound, the concept of noise has not been clearly articulated from a human perspective. The lack of knowledge on how people perceive noise limits our capacity to control it in a targeted manner. This study aimed to interpret the definition of noise from the public perspective based on a grounded theory approach. Seventy-eight participants were interviewed about noise, and four categories of perceived understanding of noise were identified: challenges, definitions of noise, opportunities, and action. As one of the challenges, urbanization is associated with increased noise levels around the human environment. In terms of definition, perceiving sound as noise is considered to be a result of the complex and dynamic process that includes sound, the environment, and humans. Sound and humans interact with the environment. In terms of opportunities, noise may have positive roles on certain occasions, dispelling the misconception that noise is exclusively negative. In addition, we found that noise perception has gradually shifted from noise control to noise utilization. In terms of action, noise can be controlled at the sound sources, susceptible target groups, susceptible behaviors and states, locations, and times where noise is perceived with high frequency. In this study, we investigated several aspects of noise, ranging from noise control, soundscape definition, and ‘soundscape indices’ (SSID) integration and application. Our findings provide an additional basis for developing better definitions, control, and utilization strategies of noise in the future, thereby improving the quality of the sound environment.

Type: Article
Title: On the definition of noise
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1057/s41599-022-01431-x
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01431-x
Language: English
Additional information: Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords: Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, Humanities, Multidisciplinary, Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary, Arts & Humanities - Other Topics, Social Sciences - Other Topics, GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH, SOUNDSCAPE, PREFERENCES, SENSITIVITY, PERCEPTION, JUDGMENTS, LEVEL
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10160721
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