Effects of human factors on the interaction between visual scene and noise annoyance

The relationship between sound exposure and noise annoyance has been investigated in-depth in recent decades, yet the influence of visual factors on auditory perception is not completely understood. Given a fixed sound environment, differences in perception could be caused by two major modifiers: differences in visual features and/or differences in human factors. Noise sensitivity, as one of the most representative human factors, has been investigated in many soundscape studies. Nevertheless, within audiovisual studies, human factors that more precisely address the auditory or visual dominance should be included to explain the variation among participants. In the present study, 16 audiovisual scenarios, created from the combination of 4 window-sight sceneries and 4 indoor highway traffic noise recordings, were presented to participants in a mockup living room environment. It is found that sound source visibility plays a key role in terms of visual features, whereas the audiovisual attention focusing capability of participants, i.e. the auditory acuity and the capability of participants to cope with visual distraction, affects noise annoyance, as does noise sensitivity. In addition, it is shown that the influence of visual scene on annoyance interacts with the personal factor indicating visual or auditory dominance.