ISO/TS 15666:2021
(Main)Acoustics — Assessment of noise annoyance by means of social and socio-acoustic surveys
Acoustics — Assessment of noise annoyance by means of social and socio-acoustic surveys
This document provides specifications for socio-acoustic surveys and social surveys which include questions on noise effects (referred to hereafter as “social surveys”). It includes questions to be asked, response scales, key aspects of conducting the survey, and reporting the results. It is recognized that specific requirements and protocols of some social studies may not permit the use of some or all of the present specifications. This document in no way lessens the merit, value or validity of such research studies. The scope of this document is restricted to surveys conducted to obtain information about noise annoyance “at home”. Surveys conducted to obtain information about noise annoyance in other situations, such as recreational areas, work environments and inside vehicles, are not included. This document concerns only the questions on noise annoyance used in a social survey and the most important additional specifications needed to accomplish a high level of comparability with other studies. Other elements which are required to provide high-quality social surveys, but which are not specific for social surveys on noise (such as sampling methods), can be found in textbooks (see References [1] and [2]). Conformity with the recommendations of this document does not guarantee the collection of accurate, precise or reliable information about the prevalence of noise-induced annoyance and/or its relationship to noise exposure. Other aspects of study design, as well as uncertainties of estimation and measurement of noise exposure, can influence the interpretability of survey findings to a great extent.
Acoustique — Évaluation de la gêne causée par le bruit au moyen d'enquêtes sociales et d'enquêtes socio-acoustiques
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TECHNICAL ISO/TS
SPECIFICATION 15666
Second edition
2021-05
Acoustics — Assessment of noise
annoyance by means of social and
socio-acoustic surveys
Acoustique — Évaluation de la gêne causée par le bruit au moyen
d'enquêtes sociales et d'enquêtes socio-acoustiques
Reference number
©
ISO 2021
© ISO 2021
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting
on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Specifications for wording and scaling of questions on annoyance . 2
5 Additional specifications for conducting social and socio-acoustic surveys when
assessing noise annoyance . 3
6 Specifications for assessing the degree of annoyance . 4
7 Specifications for reporting core information from social and socio-acoustic surveys .5
Annex A (informative) Rationale for wording and scaling of questions on annoyance .7
Annex B (informative) Wording in seventeen languages of questions on annoyance .13
Bibliography .18
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www .iso .org/
iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 43, Acoustics, Subcommittee SC 1, Noise.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/TS 15666:2003), which has been
technically revised.
The main changes compared to the previous edition are as follows:
— A relaxation of the requirement to ask both the 5-point verbal scale and the 11-point numerical
scale. Both questions can still be asked but guidance has been provided about the advantages and
disadvantages of each scale to aid question choice in situations where only one question will be
asked.
— Clarification regarding assumptions that the question covers a 24 h period (day, evening and night)
and the indoor and outdoor home environment.
— Additional guidance has been added in Clause 6 describing the conventional cut-offs to define “highly”
annoyed” for the 5-point verbal scale and the 11-point numerical scale, to enable comparisons
between different surveys and contexts.
— Updated references.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html.
iv © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
Introduction
Many countries have already developed regulations concerning the acceptability of environmental
noise exposure, while others are likely to do so in the future. Such regulations often take into account
relationships between noise exposure and noise-induced annoyance.
Measurement of environmental noise has been standardized. For example, ISO 1996 (all parts) contains
detailed specifications about basic quantities and procedures, about acquisition of (noise) data, and
about the application of these data to set noise limits.
The intent of this document is to provide specifications for the assessment of noise annoyance by social
and socio-acoustic surveys. When these specifications are met, the statistically relevant possibilities
of comparing and pooling survey results will be increased, thus offering more and better quality
information for use by environmental policy makers.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION ISO/TS 15666:2021(E)
Acoustics — Assessment of noise annoyance by means of
social and socio-acoustic surveys
1 Scope
This document provides specifications for socio-acoustic surveys and social surveys which include
questions on noise effects (referred to hereafter as “social surveys”). It includes questions to be asked,
response scales, key aspects of conducting the survey, and reporting the results.
It is recognized that specific requirements and protocols of some social studies may not permit the use
of some or all of the present specifications. This document in no way lessens the merit, value or validity
of such research studies.
The scope of this document is restricted to surveys conducted to obtain information about noise
annoyance “at home”. Surveys conducted to obtain information about noise annoyance in other
situations, such as recreational areas, work environments and inside vehicles, are not included.
This document concerns only the questions on noise annoyance used in a social survey and the most
important additional specifications needed to accomplish a high level of comparability with other
studies. Other elements which are required to provide high-quality social surveys, but which are
not specific for social surveys on noise (such as sampling methods), can be found in textbooks (see
References [1] and [2]).
Conformity with the recommendations of this document does not guarantee the collection of
accurate, precise or reliable information about the prevalence of noise-induced annoyance and/or its
relationship to noise exposure. Other aspects of study design, as well as uncertainties of estimation and
measurement of noise exposure, can influence the interpretability of survey findings to a great extent.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 1996-1, Acoustics — Description, measurement and assessment of environmental noise — Part 1: Basic
quantities and assessment procedures
ISO 1996-2, Acoustics — Description, measurement and assessment of environmental noise — Part 2:
Determination of sound pressure levels
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
noise-induced annoyance
one person’s individual adverse reaction to noise
Note 1 to entry: The reaction may be referred to in various ways including, for example, dissatisfaction, bother,
annoyance and disturbance due to noise (see References [3] and [4]).
Note 2 to entry: Community noise annoyance is the prevalence rate of this individual reaction in a community,
as measured by the responses to questions specified in Clause 4 and expressed in appropriate statistical terms.
3.2
socio-acoustic survey
social survey in which noise-induced annoyance is assessed and values of measured or calculated noise
metrics are attributed to the respondents’ home environment
Note 1 to entry: Many general social surveys of environmental factors including noise are not considered to be
“socio-acoustic” surveys because they do not have associated (measured or modelled) noise data.
4 Specifications for wording and scaling of questions on annoyance
Two questions have been formulated: one question with a verbal rating scale; one with a numerical
rating scale.
a) Question with verbal rating scale
Thinking about the last (12 months or so), when you are here at home, how much does noise from (noise
source) bother, disturb or annoy you?
— Not at all
— Slightly
— Moderately
— Very
— Extremely
b) Question with numerical rating scale, with introduction
Introduction:
This uses a 0-to-10 opinion scale for how much (source) noise bothers, disturbs or annoys you when
you are here at home. If you are not at all annoyed choose 0; if you are extremely annoyed choose
10; if you are somewhere in between, choose a number between 0 and 10.
Question:
Thinking about the last (12 months or so), when you are here at home, what number from 0 to 10 best
shows how much you are bothered, disturbed or annoyed by (source) noise?
NOTE 1 There is an implicit assumption that the verbal and numeric scales address annoyance over the whole
24 h period during the last (12 months or so), i.e. annoyance integrated over the day-time, evening and night-time
periods.
NOTE 2 The terminology ‘at home’ covers inside the home or outdoors at home, for example in the garden or
on the balcony (see References [5] and [6]). See also A.7 and A.8 d).
The rationale for the specification and wording is presented in Annex A. The most accurate translations
into several other languages are presented in Annex B.
2 © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
5 Additional specifications for conducting social and socio-acoustic surveys
when assessing noise annoyance
General specifications for conducting social surveys of any kind are found in numerous articles, papers
and textbooks (see References [1] and [2]). This clause does not give a comprehensive overview of these
general specifications. The focus in this clause is on additional specifications with respect to the design
of the questionnaire when asking about noise annoyance. More information is given in Annex A.
a) Each respondent may be asked both questions specified in Clause 4. More information is given in
Annex A about the advantages and disadvantages of the verbal and numerical scales to aid choice of
question, if only one question is to be used.
b) The questions shall be placed early in the questionnaire, unless this conflicts with other survey
objectives, and before other, more detailed, questions about noise have been asked. Respondents
shall not be eliminated on the basis of some previous question about whether they “hear” the noise,
nor on the basis of length of residence. There is too great an uncertainty that respondents may
conflate low levels of annoyance with not hearing the sound of the evaluated source (Reference [8]).
If it is necessary to determine whether some respondents do not hear the noise source, a question
about the audibility of the noise should be asked separately later in the survey. If other questions on
noise annoyance are more important for the survey’s purposes, the specified annoyance questions
may be asked later (see References [7] and [8]).
c) When asking a question about annoyance, do not imply that the noise should be present in the
respondent’s situation at home. Ask, for instance, about “noise from aircraft” instead of “noise from
the aircraft”.
d) When both questions are used, if pre-test
...
TECHNICAL ISO/TS
SPECIFICATION 15666
Second edition
2021-05
Acoustics — Assessment of noise
annoyance by means of social and
socio-acoustic surveys
Acoustique — Évaluation de la gêne causée par le bruit au moyen
d'enquêtes sociales et d'enquêtes socio-acoustiques
Reference number
©
ISO 2021
© ISO 2021
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting
on the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address
below or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: +41 22 749 01 11
Email: copyright@iso.org
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Specifications for wording and scaling of questions on annoyance . 2
5 Additional specifications for conducting social and socio-acoustic surveys when
assessing noise annoyance . 3
6 Specifications for assessing the degree of annoyance . 4
7 Specifications for reporting core information from social and socio-acoustic surveys .5
Annex A (informative) Rationale for wording and scaling of questions on annoyance .7
Annex B (informative) Wording in seventeen languages of questions on annoyance .13
Bibliography .18
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www .iso .org/ directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www .iso .org/ patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the
World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www .iso .org/
iso/ foreword .html.
This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 43, Acoustics, Subcommittee SC 1, Noise.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO/TS 15666:2003), which has been
technically revised.
The main changes compared to the previous edition are as follows:
— A relaxation of the requirement to ask both the 5-point verbal scale and the 11-point numerical
scale. Both questions can still be asked but guidance has been provided about the advantages and
disadvantages of each scale to aid question choice in situations where only one question will be
asked.
— Clarification regarding assumptions that the question covers a 24 h period (day, evening and night)
and the indoor and outdoor home environment.
— Additional guidance has been added in Clause 6 describing the conventional cut-offs to define “highly”
annoyed” for the 5-point verbal scale and the 11-point numerical scale, to enable comparisons
between different surveys and contexts.
— Updated references.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A
complete listing of these bodies can be found at www .iso .org/ members .html.
iv © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
Introduction
Many countries have already developed regulations concerning the acceptability of environmental
noise exposure, while others are likely to do so in the future. Such regulations often take into account
relationships between noise exposure and noise-induced annoyance.
Measurement of environmental noise has been standardized. For example, ISO 1996 (all parts) contains
detailed specifications about basic quantities and procedures, about acquisition of (noise) data, and
about the application of these data to set noise limits.
The intent of this document is to provide specifications for the assessment of noise annoyance by social
and socio-acoustic surveys. When these specifications are met, the statistically relevant possibilities
of comparing and pooling survey results will be increased, thus offering more and better quality
information for use by environmental policy makers.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION ISO/TS 15666:2021(E)
Acoustics — Assessment of noise annoyance by means of
social and socio-acoustic surveys
1 Scope
This document provides specifications for socio-acoustic surveys and social surveys which include
questions on noise effects (referred to hereafter as “social surveys”). It includes questions to be asked,
response scales, key aspects of conducting the survey, and reporting the results.
It is recognized that specific requirements and protocols of some social studies may not permit the use
of some or all of the present specifications. This document in no way lessens the merit, value or validity
of such research studies.
The scope of this document is restricted to surveys conducted to obtain information about noise
annoyance “at home”. Surveys conducted to obtain information about noise annoyance in other
situations, such as recreational areas, work environments and inside vehicles, are not included.
This document concerns only the questions on noise annoyance used in a social survey and the most
important additional specifications needed to accomplish a high level of comparability with other
studies. Other elements which are required to provide high-quality social surveys, but which are
not specific for social surveys on noise (such as sampling methods), can be found in textbooks (see
References [1] and [2]).
Conformity with the recommendations of this document does not guarantee the collection of
accurate, precise or reliable information about the prevalence of noise-induced annoyance and/or its
relationship to noise exposure. Other aspects of study design, as well as uncertainties of estimation and
measurement of noise exposure, can influence the interpretability of survey findings to a great extent.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 1996-1, Acoustics — Description, measurement and assessment of environmental noise — Part 1: Basic
quantities and assessment procedures
ISO 1996-2, Acoustics — Description, measurement and assessment of environmental noise — Part 2:
Determination of sound pressure levels
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
noise-induced annoyance
one person’s individual adverse reaction to noise
Note 1 to entry: The reaction may be referred to in various ways including, for example, dissatisfaction, bother,
annoyance and disturbance due to noise (see References [3] and [4]).
Note 2 to entry: Community noise annoyance is the prevalence rate of this individual reaction in a community,
as measured by the responses to questions specified in Clause 4 and expressed in appropriate statistical terms.
3.2
socio-acoustic survey
social survey in which noise-induced annoyance is assessed and values of measured or calculated noise
metrics are attributed to the respondents’ home environment
Note 1 to entry: Many general social surveys of environmental factors including noise are not considered to be
“socio-acoustic” surveys because they do not have associated (measured or modelled) noise data.
4 Specifications for wording and scaling of questions on annoyance
Two questions have been formulated: one question with a verbal rating scale; one with a numerical
rating scale.
a) Question with verbal rating scale
Thinking about the last (12 months or so), when you are here at home, how much does noise from (noise
source) bother, disturb or annoy you?
— Not at all
— Slightly
— Moderately
— Very
— Extremely
b) Question with numerical rating scale, with introduction
Introduction:
This uses a 0-to-10 opinion scale for how much (source) noise bothers, disturbs or annoys you when
you are here at home. If you are not at all annoyed choose 0; if you are extremely annoyed choose
10; if you are somewhere in between, choose a number between 0 and 10.
Question:
Thinking about the last (12 months or so), when you are here at home, what number from 0 to 10 best
shows how much you are bothered, disturbed or annoyed by (source) noise?
NOTE 1 There is an implicit assumption that the verbal and numeric scales address annoyance over the whole
24 h period during the last (12 months or so), i.e. annoyance integrated over the day-time, evening and night-time
periods.
NOTE 2 The terminology ‘at home’ covers inside the home or outdoors at home, for example in the garden or
on the balcony (see References [5] and [6]). See also A.7 and A.8 d).
The rationale for the specification and wording is presented in Annex A. The most accurate translations
into several other languages are presented in Annex B.
2 © ISO 2021 – All rights reserved
5 Additional specifications for conducting social and socio-acoustic surveys
when assessing noise annoyance
General specifications for conducting social surveys of any kind are found in numerous articles, papers
and textbooks (see References [1] and [2]). This clause does not give a comprehensive overview of these
general specifications. The focus in this clause is on additional specifications with respect to the design
of the questionnaire when asking about noise annoyance. More information is given in Annex A.
a) Each respondent may be asked both questions specified in Clause 4. More information is given in
Annex A about the advantages and disadvantages of the verbal and numerical scales to aid choice of
question, if only one question is to be used.
b) The questions shall be placed early in the questionnaire, unless this conflicts with other survey
objectives, and before other, more detailed, questions about noise have been asked. Respondents
shall not be eliminated on the basis of some previous question about whether they “hear” the noise,
nor on the basis of length of residence. There is too great an uncertainty that respondents may
conflate low levels of annoyance with not hearing the sound of the evaluated source (Reference [8]).
If it is necessary to determine whether some respondents do not hear the noise source, a question
about the audibility of the noise should be asked separately later in the survey. If other questions on
noise annoyance are more important for the survey’s purposes, the specified annoyance questions
may be asked later (see References [7] and [8]).
c) When asking a question about annoyance, do not imply that the noise should be present in the
respondent’s situation at home. Ask, for instance, about “noise from aircraft” instead of “noise from
the aircraft”.
d) When both questions are used, if pre-test
...
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