1. Age-WEIGHTEDSOUND LEVELS Michael A. Staiano 10 July 2006 STAIANO ENGINEERING, INC.

2. ANNOYANCE RESPONSE • Public opinion polling of community annoyance • Ambient noise survey of canvassed area

3. ANNOYANCE RESPONSE CURVE

4. WEIGHTING CURVES

5. EQUAL-LOUDNESS CONTOURS Pure-tone response of 18-25-yr-old men and women

6. POPULATION PYRAMID

7. 2006 U.S. POPULATION MEAN AGE: • Men and Women / All ages – 37 yr • Men and Women / ≥ 20 yr – 47 yr

8. HEARING LOSS • PRESBYCUSIS—aging • NOISE-INDUCED • occupational • sociacusis (every-day life) • NOSOACUSIS—disease, trauma, ototoxic drugs

9. EXPECTED HEARING LOSS 60-yr olds in industrial society but not exposed to workplace noise (OSHA 1983)

10. HEARING LOSS AGE-CORRECTION CURVES Hearing threshold re 20-yr-old males

11. AGE WEIGHTINGS

12. SIMPLE SPECTRA

13. OVERALL SOUND LEVELS of SIMPLE SPECTRA—1

14. OVERALL SOUND LEVELS of SIMPLE SPECTRA—2

15. REAL SPECTRA

16. OVERALL SOUND LEVELS of REAL SPECTRA—1

17. OVERALL SOUND LEVELS of REAL SPECTRA—2

18. NATURAL SOUNDS • Natural Sources: • Birds ≥ 2 kHz • Insects – cicadas ~1 kHz – crickets ~6 kHz • Ageing filters natural sounds relative to intruding noise?

19. CONCLUSION • A-weighting ageing error range: • 1 dB @ 40 yr • 2 dB @ 50 yr • 3 dB @ 60 yr • 4 dB @ 70 yr • Ageing relatively minor explanation for annoyance response variation