Clarification of Factors Contributing to Gender Differences in Perceived Loudness for the Borderless Design of Sound Environments

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K20612
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 90010:Design-related
• Research Institution: Utsunomiya University
• Principal Investigator: Tsuruta Mariko 宇都宮大学, 工学部, 助教 (80748202)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 男女差 / ラウドネス / 音の大きさ / 文化的背景

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have been studying three factors that might affect the gender differences in the perceived loudness of sound: (1) gender differences in verbal criteria on loudness evaluation, (2) gender differences in the relationship between sound pressure and sensory quantity (loudness), and (3) the influence of cultural background. Experiments focusing on factors (2) and (3) revealed that none of the effects were clear. In order to further investigate the effect of factor (1) and (2), we conducted experiments under different evaluation conditions. As a result, we found that there was no clear difference between males and females in the relationship between sound pressure and sensory quantity in the factor (2). These results suggest that the gender difference in the factor (1), the criterion for judging the loudness using verbal expression, may be strongly affect to the gender difference in the evaluation of loudness.

Free Research Field

音響心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

人間の聴覚メカニズムや文化的背景の影響も含めた検討から，音の大きさの評価における男女差は，「言葉による音の大きさの判断基準の男女差」が強く影響する可能性が示唆された。「言葉による評価」という脳のより高次な処理における男女差については，これまでの検討では明らかにできていない。この点に関して今後も調査を続けることで，音の大きさの評価において男女差が生じる要因の解明に近づくことができる。