Conclusions WS1a INFLUENCE INFORMED BEFOREHAND
As stated in the introduction, the group started with the workshop divided up in two subgroups. The first group (of eight test subjects) was informed beforehand that the experiment would focus on the amount of noise at several places in Rotterdam. The second group (of six test subjects) was not informed of this. We wanted to test if the experience of noise by people would be influenced by the fact that they beforehand had been informed of the subject of investigation. After walking the route through Rotterdam, we asked the subgroups to fill in a small questionnaire. We asked them whether they experienced the separate places as quiet or loud on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 would be very quite and 5 very loud. (Below a sample question from the questonnaire)
Experience (not informed)
EXPERIENCE AND ACTUAL NOISE LEVELS In addition to investigating the experience of noise, we also measured the actual noise levels at the different places along the route. With a decibel meter we walked the same route as the subgroups and measured the decibel level at the each of those places. This way we are able to compare the experiences of the groups with the actual noise levels and see if the experiences correspond with the measured levels. .
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Places
Fig. 1 and 2 Experience of noise at places along the route
Places
Eendrachtsplein
Urban park
Paulus Church
Eendrachtsplein
Urban park
Paulus Church
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Schouwburgplein
Eendrachtsplein
Urban park
Paulus Church
Schouwburgplein
Plaza passage
Rotterdam CS
Eendrachtsplein
Urban park
Paulus Church
Schouwburgplein
Plaza passage
Rotterdam CS
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Places
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Schouwburgplein
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Rotterdam CS
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70
Plaza passage
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Noiselevel dB(A)
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Rotterdam CS
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Experience
Experience
Experience
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Noiselevels
Experience (overall)
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Plaza passage
Experience (informed)
When you compare the two graphs (fig. 1 and 2), you’ll notice that the difference between them is negligible. The two graphs basically follow the same shape, with some minor differences in experienced loudness at some of the places. If there would be some mayor differences, we could assume that there might have been some influence on the experience of noise if they were informed beforehand. Now that the differences are negligible, it is safe to assume that this didn’t have a big influence.
Places
Fig. 3 Overall experience of noise at places along the route Fig. 4 Measured noise levels at these places