研究・産学官民連携 Research

Acoustic Environmental Design: Resolving Horn Noise Problem through Design of Human Behavior and Transportation System

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Acoustic Environmental Design: Resolving Horn Noise Problem through Design of Human Behavior and Transportation System

Department of Communication Design Science, Fuculty of Design
Associate Professor Masayuki Takada

In several foreign countries, there are regions facing noise problems caused by vehicle horn use. In order to be heard clearly by drivers inside their vehicles, vehicle horns are designed to sound at very high sound levels. When used frequently on roads with high traffic volume, such horn use should have serious effects on people in the vicinity. The previous surveys in urban areas of Japan and South Korea actually reported pedestrians’ negative reactions to vehicle horns [1,2].

Fig.1 Road with heavy traffic in urban area.

Since these horns are used as signals for warning others of danger and avoiding dangerous situations and also as a tool for communication between drivers, reducing the volume of horn sound is not a practical means of resolving noise problems caused by vehicle horn. To address such problem, within the current horn system, it is necessary to consider driver behavior, the transportation system, and even government’s transportation policy.

Our final goals are to clarify the causes of driver horn use, and to propose the transportation system designed to suppress driver horn use. To achieve them, we will investigate relationships between horn use and driver awareness and behavior, the vehicular environment, the transportation system comprehensively.

Fig.2 Behavior model of horn use drawn from sociopsychological model (Fujii, 2002). The model represents that various intrinsic and extrinsic factors of drivers affect their behavioral intention, which then evokes certain traffic behaviors (i.e., horn use).

We are currently conducting measurements of horn use around intersections in urban areas of Taiwan, in collaboration with National Taiwan University, Faculty of engineering, Kyushu University and Surugadai University. Relationships between driver horn use and the extrinsic factors of drivers, such as the transportation system comprised of traffic volume, traffic lights, and road construction will be analyzed. Furthermore, social surveys and experiments will be carried out to investigate relationships between driver horn use and the intrinsic factors of drivers including psychological factors such as attitude and norm consciousness.

Fig.3 Congested traffic condition at an intersection in the urban area of Taiwan.

Fig.4 Measurement scene of vehicle horn use.

Fig.5 Traffic volume and frequency of vehicle horn use at an intersection in the urban area of Taiwan. Each data represents that for ten minutes in each time interval.

References
[1] Takada, Fukuda and Iwamiya, Questionnaire survey on vehicle horn use and its effects on drivers and pedestrians, Acoustical Science and Technology, 34(3), 187-196, 2013.
[2] Takada, Suzuki, Kim, Shin and Iwamiya, Driver's vehicle horn use and its effects on other drivers and pedestrians: A case study in South Korea, Mechanical Engineering Journal, 4(2), 16-00433, 2017.
[3] Fukui. (2002). A Social Psychological Approach to Traffic Behavior Analysis, in Traffic Behavior Analysis and Modeling, Kitamura & Morigawa (eds), pp. 35-52, Gihodo Shuppan, Tokyo.

■Inquiries
Department of Communication Design Science, Fuculty of Design
Associate Professor Masayuki Takada