Development and feasibility of Perceived Noise Exposure Scale

Qualitative assessment tools are a way to obtain noise exposure information, but none are available for residential and moderately noisy settings. This research aimed to develop a scale for perceived noise exposure assessment combining visual analogue scale with qualitative common noise source categories assigned to it. Perceived noise exposure scale (PNES) was designed and appraised in a twostep process — cognitive interviews and phenomenological analysis, and field test. PNES is highly correlated with residential Lden (r = 0.83) and might be useful in correlation-based analyses when actual exposure data cannot be obtained.