The influence of visual characteristics of barriers on railway noise perception

Noise annoyance is considered as the main effect of noise, it is a complex and multifaceted psychological concept dealing with immediate behavioral and evaluative aspects. In the last decades the research has intensely investigated the correlation between noise exposure and noise annoyance, nevertheless recent studies confirm that non-auditory factors influence the noise perception of individuals. In particular audio-video interaction can play a fundamental role. Today Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) systems allow building laboratory test providing realistic experiences of the surrounding environment to detect more accurate information about the reactions of the local population. Regarding the interventions for environmental noise control the barriers represent the main solution; however some aspects related to their visual characteristic have to be further investigated. This paper presented a case study, where a sample of residents living close to a railway line assessed noise-related aspects for several barriers with different visual characteristics in an IVR laboratory test. In particular, three main factors were analyzed: the barrier type concerning the visibility of the noise source through the screen, the visual aspect of the barrier concerning some aesthetic issues and the noise level at the receiver concerning the acoustic performance of the barrier and the magnitude of the sound source. The main results of the ANOVA analysis showed that for transparent barriers Perceived Loudness and Noise Annoyance were judged lower than for opaque barriers; this difference increased as noise level increased. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V.