Alberto Behar*
Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Canada
*Corresponding Author: Alberto Behar, Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Canada.
Received: May 27, 2022; Published: July 08, 2022
Low frequency (LFN) noise is a noise that contains most of its energy in the lower portion of the spectrum, bellow the frequency of 200 Hz. It is generated by vibrations of large machineries, such as large power transformers, electric generators, compressors, etc. Energy at those frequencies propagates to large distances with little attenuation, so distances act as a low frequency filters. As a consequence, wide band noise at the origin becomes LFN far away from the source. This type of noise is also difficult to control, since the attenuation of noise control materials is low. Also the diffraction of barriers is largely ineffective. As a consequence, control of LFN requires sophisticated and expensive measures.
LFN is not considered hazardous, since it does not affect the hearing organ. However, it tends to be highly annoying, having also effects such as sleep deprivation, speech interference and others.
There is not, at the present, a uniformly accepted method for LFN assessment as well there are no set limits for acceptable noise levels. The most used method is still the A-C, although there are objections to it. This paper reviews the nature, effects and measurement status of the LFN.
Keywords: Noise; Annoyance; LFN; Noise Hazard; A-C Method
Citation: Alberto Behar. “Low Frequency (LFN) Noise: Effects and Assessment".Acta Scientific Otolaryngology 4.8 (2022): 07-10.
Copyright: © 2022 Alberto Behar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.