Effects of railway rolling noise on perceived pleasantness

Due to the recommendation of the European Commission, the railway companies have been replacing the conventional brake system of freight wagons. Since the retrofitting may lead to a change in noise characteristics, we aimed at examining its effectiveness to increase the pleasantness of the sounds. Realistic railway pass-by sounds were synthesized. We conducted a laboratory study with 44 participants who were asked which of pairwise presented sounds they perceived as more pleasant. Preference rankings were derived based on a metric scale. Participants preferred retrofitted freight trains to those with a conventional brake system. The more wagons of a train were retrofitted, the more pleasant the sound was rated. Pleasantness decreased with increasing sound pressure level. Since long-term exposure to unpleasant railway sounds may increase the number of highly annoyed residents, our findings provide important information to policy makers supporting the ban of freight train wagons with conventional brake systems.