What is it about?
In the present study the awakening caused by impulse sounds was investigated. The sounds (shooting sounds, bangs produced by door slamming or by container transshipment, aircraft landings) were presented by means of loudspeakers in the bedrooms of 50 volunteers. The fragments for the impulse sounds consisted of single or multiple events. The sounds were presented in the night during a six-hour period. Each subject participated during 18 nights. At equal levels of the total A-weighted sound energy, the proportion of awakening for the single impulse sounds was equal to that for the aircraft sounds. The proportion of awakening induced by the multiple impulse sounds, however, was significantly higher. For obtaining the same rate of awakening, the total sound energy of each of the successive impulses in a fragment had to be about 15-25 dB lower than that of one single impulse.
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Why is it important?
The results of the present study show that the proportion of awakening is highly dependent on the time structure of the sound fragments. This may also be relevant to sleep disturbance caused by other sound sources, such as road traffic.
Perspectives
At present it is not possible to predict the probability of awakening induced by a sequence of impulse sounds from that induced by a single event. For developing an adequate model with two or more parameters, the effects of the number of events in a sound fragment and the time period between the successive events should be investigated more systematically. For example, does a volley with 20 or 30 events yield the same probability of awakening as a volley with 10 events, provided that the total sound energy levels are equal? And at which repetition time of the events in a multiple fragment does the awakening probability approach that of a single event?
Joos Vos
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This page is a summary of: Enhanced awakening probability of repetitive impulse sounds, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, September 2013, Acoustical Society of America (ASA),
DOI: 10.1121/1.4817923.
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