Constructing noise-reaction questions for community noise surveys in nine different languages. Experiences and lessons learned

Abstract

Studies of peoples’ reaction to community noise had been published since the early 1960ties, but differences in survey questions’ wordings had interfered with inter-survey comparisons. In 1993 an ICBEN team set the goal of creating high-quality survey questions that would yield internationally comparable measures of overall reactions to noise sources. After 7 years of discussions and research the team presented their recommendations. This paper presents some of the issues that were discussed by the ICBEN team and describes how they were dealt with.