Hearing of warning sounds under the settings of railway running noise considering age-related hearing loss

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Vol. 155; no. 3; p. A306
• Main Authors: Hoshino, Kei, Suzuki, Ayako, Oikawa, Yasuhiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Acoustical Society of America (ASA) 01.03.2024
• DOI: 10.1121/10.0027597
• ISSN: 0001-4966

Railroad drivers may become drowsy because of their irregular work schedules, such as late nights and early mornings. Therefore, in our research, we developed a system that detects driver drowsiness using images based on facial expressions and issues a warning sound to assist drivers during driving. However, it is necessary to function warning sounds even in loud running noise areas or various running noise qualities to make the system more practical. Moreover, it is necessary to consider the effect of a driver’s age-related hearing loss on the setting of the warning sound volume in noisy environments, even for those who meet the hearing criteria as drivers. This is because the number of elderly drivers in their 60 s will increase in the future. Therefore, we investigated the appropriate volume of the warning sound under various running noise types and levels. Then, we compared it between groups of people in their early 20 s and 60 s regarding their hearing ability and the way they hear warning sounds under running noise. The results provide new insight into the relation between hearing ability and the ability to hear warning sounds under driving noise.