Comparison of subjective impression of copy machine noise between Japanese, American and German participants

Psychological evaluations of copy machine noise are in progress to lower acoustical noise and to avoid disturbing the office environment. Psychological experiments were made for Japanese, American and German participants to examine cultural differences in sensitivity to copy machine noise using the Semantic Differential. The experiments revealed that, just as with Japanese, Americans and Germans were mostly sensitive to "sound pressure levels." However, the second influential factor for Japanese participants was "roughness" but "sharpness" for Americans and Germans. Evaluation formulas for "pleasing" noise using physical values were decided for each country. This suggests that copy machine noise will be evaluated without psychological experiments. The information gathered will possibly be used to adapt copy machine noise to levels that are comfortable to users in different countries.