Economic valuation of the sound quality of noise emitted from vacuum cleaners and hairdryers by conjoint analysis

Psychoacoustical experiments were conducted to evaluate the economic value of the sound quality—noise level and sharpness—of noise emitted from vacuum cleaners and hairdryers. In each experiment, the noises were presented to participants at three levels of A-weighted sound pressure level (SPL) and sharpness. Conjoint analysis was applied to the rating scores of the participants’ willingness to purchase the various products after hearing recordings of these products at work. The results revealed that the economic values for noise reduction (vacuum cleaner, 5 dB; hairdryer, 6 dB) and sharpness reduction (0.25 acum for the vacuum cleaner) were estimated to be approximately 12% of the average product prices. Similar experiments were also conducted without sound presentations. The obtained economic values differed from those of former experiments. The omission of the sound presentation in the explanations concerning the noise attribute may have affected the economic values.