Experimental Study about Effect of Cabin Air Pressure on Human Auditory Sensation

摘要

During cruising, the cabin pressure is typically maintained at 0.8kpa (about 0.8atm). Such cabin pressure could cause changes in human perception systems, especially for auditory sensation. Experiments were performed in a decompression chamber to check on this effect. During the experiments, the air pressure was set at 1atm, 0.9atm and 0.8atm. 24 subjects participated in the experiments. The questionnaire included subjective sensation about the noise, comfort and fidget, etc. Heart rate and blood pressure were also tested. The results showed that people became more sensitive to noise as air pressure decreased and people felt the noises were more annoying and uncomfortable. The heart rate tested showed that the subjects’ heart rate increased as pressure decreased and the change was related to objective vote, e.g., the unpleasantness caused by noise could cause the increase of heart rate. The change of blood pressure was not obvious in all conditions.