The annoyance of snoring and psychoacoustic parameters: a step towards an objective measurement

• Published in: European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology Vol. 269; no. 5; pp. 1537 - 1543
• Main Authors: Rohrmeier, Christian, Herzog, Michael, Haubner, Frank, Kuehnel, Thomas S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.05.2012
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Head and Neck Surgery; Humans; Loudness Perception - physiology; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Neurosurgery; Otorhinolaryngology; Polysomnography; Psychoacoustics; Psychometrics - methods; Snoring - diagnosis; Snoring - physiopathology; Sound Spectrography; Young Adult; Objective; Annoyance; Psychometric; Psychoacoustic; Snoring
• ISSN: 0937-4477; 1434-4726
• DOI: 10.1007/s00405-011-1878-2

The aim of this study was to find out whether objective analysis of snoring sounds (sound pressure level and psychoacoustic parameters) correlates with the subjective rating by participants with respect to perceived annoyance and hence whether it is useful. 43 participants, aged 22–65 years with normal hearing, were asked to rate 60 snoring sounds from simple and obstructive snorers according to their level of annoyance. A correlation analysis according to Spearman was then performed on objectively calculated parameters. These were the A-weighted sound pressure level, the psychoacoustic parameters of loudness, sharpness, fluctuation strength and roughness and psychoacoustic annoyance (PA) calculated from those parameters. The subjective ratings showed high, highly significant correlations with, in particular, the mean A-weighted sound pressure level ( r  = 0.88; p  < 0.01), the 5th percentile of psychoacoustic loudness ( r  = 0.89; p  < 0.01) and psychoacoustic annoyance ( r  = 0.80; p  < 0.01). These parameters seem to provide information about the degree of annoyance that is objectively measurable and independent of the snorer’s bed partner. Further studies should follow in order to confirm these results, find out their generalizability and establish reference values.