Psychoacoustic Methods with Regard to Austrian Legal Policy

Noise is one of the most important personal problems. A lot of studies prove that. The noise survey 1993 carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Youth and Family Affairs showed about two thirds of the Austrian population being exposed to noise in their dwellings. Moreover, every second Austrian is affected by noise. There is great effort from government and local authorities to get highly efficient tools for the fight against noise. In 1994 a book on basics of psychoacoustics has been published by the Austrian Ministry of Environment, Youth and Family Affairs explaining the methodology and some examples of psychoacoustics. However, a concise outline of the legal situation and a set of examples showing how to apply psychoacoustic methods to real noise situations were still missing. To complete this a handbook on psychoacoustics for practical users was prepared. Special attention must be paid to the legal situation in Austria which allows the usage and application of psychoacoustic methods in several administrative procedures. Especially in the field of trade and industry there are no limits for conventional noise criteria like the A-weighted SPL or Leq. Operators of workshops and industrial plants have to prove that their business neither does cause a risk for health nor any annoyance in the neighbourhood. In practice this leads to a discrepancy between legal policy and application of law for in many cases only the conventional noise criteria are used.