Perception of neighbour noise and self-reported psychometric status

This paper describes a preliminary analysis from a study that investigated an association between how individuals perceive their neighbours' noise and their self-reported psychometric status. The psychometric status was measured using the Symptom-Checklist-90-Revised Scale (SCL-90-R). The SCL-90-R is a tool which measures nine symptomatic dimensions including somatization, interpersonal sensitivity, and depression. A laboratory experiment was carried out with participants who had self-reported normal-hearings (N = 42). They were exposed to lightweight impact noise stimuli such as those of a tapping machine or dropping a golf ball. The participants rated perceived annoyance to each stimulus. They also responded to a questionnaire including the SCL-90-R and some question items on demographic and personal characteristics such as age and noise sensitivity. The questionnaire also asked the participants' experiences of being exposed to neighbour noise from home. The study also explored possible moderating effects of non-acoustic factors on the association. The present paper describes the association between the participants' annoyance ratings and the subscales of the SCL-90-R.