Physiological and psychological responses to prolonged light floor-impact sounds generated by a tapping machine in a wooden house

Abstract

We investigated the physiological and psychological responses of nine normal men to the prolonged light floor-impact sounds of 60 dBA and 80 dBA generated by a tapping machine in a two-story wooden house. Blood pressure was measured, and a sensory evaluation was also conducted using the semantic differential method. The results obtained were as follows: (1) the increase in systolic blood pressure immediately after exposure to the light floor-impact sounds depended on the level of the sounds, (2) the variations in feelings due to the prolonged light floor-impact sounds were identified by factor analysis, and (3) the subjects showed no difference in "comfortable" feeling for the prolonged light floor-impact sounds of 60 dBA and 80 dBA, but differences in the variation of the systolic blood pressure were detected.