川田章弘, 福本一朗：若年者・高齢者を対象としたユニバーサル報知音に関する一考察, 人間工学, Vol.36, No.5, pp.261-272, 2000
Akihiro KAWATA, Ichiro FUKUMOTO: A Study of the universal alarms for both young adults and the elderly., The Japanese Journal of Ergonomics, Vol.36, No.5, pp.261-272, 2000

　若年者，高齢者がともに聞き取りやすい報知音の特徴を調査するため，以下に示す4種類の報知音：(1) 2 kHz純音，(2) 2 kHzと2.5 kHzの正弦波信号を乗算処理したAM音，(3) 3 kHzから0.5 kHzへと変化する周波数掃引音，(4) 0.2 kHzから2.7 kHzへと変化する周波数掃引音を試作し，単純反応時間によって聞き取りやすさの検討をした．また，これらの報知音に対する切迫性についての聴取印象も評価した．結果，(3)，(4)の報知音においては，高齢者-若年者間や男女間に聴取印象の相違があることを示した．単純反応時間と聴取印象の総合的評価の結果，(2)の報知音がもっとも優れていると考えられる．これらの結果から，高齢者と若年者が共に聞き取りやすい報知音を作成する方法として，複合音の使用や経時的に周波数の変化する音の使用を提案する．

In order to study features of auditory alarms suitable for both young adults and the elderly, the following four auditory alarms were designed and tested: (1) a 2 kHz pure tone; (2) an amplitude-modulated tone composed of the product of 2 kHz and 2.5 kHz sinusoidal signals; (3) a frequency sweep tone from 3 kHz to 0.5 kHz; (4) a frequency sweep tone from 0.2 kHz to 2.7 kHz. The audibility of these alarms was examined in terms of the reaction time. Impressions of the urgency of these alarms were also evaluated. There were significant differences in impressions of urgency for alarms (3) and (4) between male and female subjects, and between young and elderly subjects. In view of the overall evaluation of reaction time and impression analysis, alarm (2) is considered the best. The experimental results suggest that a complex, frequency-changing sound would be most effective in creating auditory alarms suitable for both young adults and the elderly.

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