Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom.
Al Nahdha Hospital, Ministry of Health, Ruwi Street, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2024 Sep 1;156(3):1565-1574. doi: 10.1121/10.0028380.
Audible very-high frequency sound (VHFS) and ultrasound (US) have been rated more unpleasant than lower frequency sounds when presented to listeners at similar sensation levels (SLs). In this study, 17 participants rated the sensory unpleasantness of 14-, 16-, and 18-kHz tones and a 1-kHz reference tone. Tones were presented at equal subjective loudness levels for each individual, corresponding to levels of 10, 20, and 30 dB SL measured at 1 kHz. Participants were categorized as either "symptomatic" or "asymptomatic" based on self-reported previous symptoms that they attributed to exposure to VHFS/US. In both groups, subjective loudness increased more rapidly with sound pressure level for VHFS/US than for the 1-kHz reference tone, which is consistent with a reduced dynamic range at the higher frequencies. For loudness-matched tones, participants rated VHFS/US as more unpleasant than that for the 1-kHz reference. These results suggest that increased sensory unpleasantness and reduced dynamic range at high frequencies should be considered when designing or deploying equipment which emits VHFS/US that could be audible to exposed people.
当以相似的感觉水平（SL）向听众呈现时，可听的甚高频声音（VHFS）和超声波（US）被评为比低频声音更不愉快。在这项研究中，17 名参与者对 14、16 和 18 kHz 的音调以及 1 kHz 的参考音进行了感官不愉快程度的评定。对于每个个体，音调以相等的主观响度呈现，对应于在 1 kHz 处测量的 10、20 和 30 dB SL 的水平。参与者根据自我报告的先前症状分为“有症状”或“无症状”，这些症状归因于暴露于 VHFS/US。在两组中，VHFS/US 的主观响度随声压级的增加比 1 kHz 参考音更快，这与较高频率下的动态范围减小一致。对于响度匹配的音调，参与者将 VHFS/US 评为比 1 kHz 参考音更不愉快。这些结果表明，在设计或部署可能会被暴露者听到的发出 VHFS/US 的设备时，应考虑高频时增加的感官不愉快和降低的动态范围。
