ABSTRACT
Human beings are continuously exposed to diverse sound field scenarios —starting from living conditions daily to the humming of devices and ducts, talking, traffic outside, and the appliances; passing through offices with open plan, hospitals, industrial machinery halls, where all noises are magnified; to the clubs, pubs, restaurant, shopping malls, concert halls, theatres, or parks. Some of the acoustic phenomena in the aforementioned places can be found desirable and favorable, while others are interpreted as noise, occasionally disturbing or even threatening physical and mental health. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, 2018) in the United States of America (U.S.A.) in 2018, about 22 million workers were exposed to hostile noise levels at their places of employment, while the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) (2018) showed that around 250 million of workers were affected by this negative phenomenon globally. Since 1999, about 30% of Europeans have already been exposed to loud traffic noise, 10% to rail noise, and probably about 10% to air traffic noise (Traffic noise: Exposure and annoyance, 2001).
