Differences in subjective responses to traffic-induced vibration and noise in buildings between Vietnamese and Japanese participants

There have been only a limited number of studies in which the subjective responses to traffic-induced vibration and noise in buildings are experimentally compared among participants from different nations. In this study, we investigate the subjective responses of two groups to vibration and noise: one group comprises 20 Vietnamese participants and the other 20 Japanese participants. The participants were exposed to noises of six different levels and vibrations of five varying magnitudes, which were obtained from field measurement recordings of road traffic, Shinkansen railways, and conventional railways. They were asked to rate their levels of discomfort and reading disturbance on a seven–ordinal scale and a five–ordinal scale, respectively. The results indicate that the Japanese participants rated significantly greater discomfort levels in response to noises of most levels and vibrations of certain magnitudes, than the Vietnamese participants. The difference in reading disturbance level between the two groups was less clear than that in discomfort level. The subjective equivalences between vibration and noise did not differ significantly between the Japanese and Vietnamese groups.