A-weighting’s low-frequency blind spot explains roughly four dB of the railway bonus

Evidence

As an explanation for the railway-bonus at least two hypotheses can be put forward. From an engineering point of view, it can be argued that road traffic noise shows more pronounced lowfrequency components which are underestimated by A-weighting. Hence, at same LAeq, road-traffic is perceived as louder than rail-traffic. By and large, the problems of A-weighted levels for sounds with strong low-frequency components could account for some four dB of the railway-bonus. — Professor Dr.-Ing. Hugo Fastl, Professor Dr.-Ing. Eberhard, Psychoacoustics- Facts and Models, 1813

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Connects to the ongoing critique of A-weighting as inadequate for sounds with strong low-frequency content.

Related

• A-weighting’s underestimate of low-frequency energy explains about four dB of the railway bonus. (similarity 0.98)
• A-weighting underestimates low-frequency components, inflating perceived loudness of road noise (similarity 0.97)
• The railway bonus persists even when sound sources are obscured, ruling out cognitive effects (similarity 0.87)
• At equal A-weighted level, railway noise is judged quieter than road and aircraft noise (similarity 0.87)