Influence of social and behavioural characteristics of users on their evaluation of subjective loudness and acoustic comfort in shopping malls

PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e54497. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0054497. Epub 2013 Jan 15.

Abstract

A large-scale subjective survey was conducted in six shopping malls in Harbin City, China, to determine the influence of social and behavioural characteristics of users on their evaluation of subjective loudness and acoustic comfort. The analysis of social characteristics shows that evaluation of subjective loudness is influenced by income and occupation, with correlation coefficients or contingency coefficients of 0.10 to 0.40 (p<0.05 or p<0.01). Meanwhile, evaluation of acoustic comfort evaluation is influenced by income, education level, and occupation, with correlation coefficients or contingency coefficients of 0.10 to 0.60 (p<0.05 or p<0.01). The effect of gender and age on evaluation of subjective loudness and acoustic comfort is statistically insignificant. The effects of occupation are mainly caused by the differences in income and education level, in which the effects of income are greater than that of education level. In terms of behavioural characteristics, evaluation of subjective loudness is influenced by the reason for visit, frequency of visit, and length of stay, with correlation coefficients or contingency coefficients of 0.10 to 0.40 (p<0.05 or p<0.01). Evaluation of acoustic comfort is influenced by the reason for visit to the site, the frequency of visit, length of stay, and also season of visit, with correlation coefficients of 0.10 to 0.30 (p<0.05 or p<0.01). In particular, users who are waiting for someone show lower evaluation of acoustic comfort, whereas users who go to shopping malls more than once a month show higher evaluation of acoustic comfort. On the contrary, the influence of the period of visit and the accompanying persons are found insignificant.

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Auditory Perception*
  • China
  • Educational Status
  • Female
  • Health Surveys
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Sex Factors
  • Social Behavior*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the China Natural Science Foundation (No. 50928801), the PR China Ministry of Education Foundation for PhD Bases (20112302110045) and the Harbin Technological Innovation Fund (2012RFXXS046). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.