International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article The Development of a Multiple-Item Annoyance Scale (MIAS) for Transportation Noise Annoyance Dirk Schreckenberg 1,* ID , Christin Belke 1 and Jan Spilski 2 1 ZEUS GmbH, Centre for Applied Psychology, Environmental and Social Research, Sennbrink 46, 58093 Hagen, Germany;
[email protected] 2 Center for Cognitive Science, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrodiger-Straße, Building 57, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +49-2331-4787-194 Received: 7 April 2018; Accepted: 5 May 2018; Published: 12 May 2018 Abstract: In 2001, Team#6 of the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) recommended the use of two single international standardised questions and response scales. This recommendation has been widely accepted in the scientific community. Nevertheless, annoyance can be regarded as a multidimensional construct comprising the three elements: (1) experience of an often repeated noise-related disturbance and the behavioural response to cope with it, (2) an emotional/attitudinal response to the sound and its disturbing impact, and (3) the perceived control or coping capacity with regard to the noise situation. The psychometric properties of items reflecting these three elements have been explored for aircraft noise annoyance. Analyses were conducted using data of the NORAH-Study (Noise-Related Annoyance, Cognition, and Health), and a multi-item noise annoyance scale (MIAS) has been developed and tested post hoc by using a stepwise process (exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses). Preliminary results were presented to the 12th ICBEN Congress in 2017. In this study, the validation of MIAS is done for aircraft noise and extended to railway and road traffic noise.