Validating the Turkish version of the Weinstein noise sensitivity scale: effects of age, sex, and education level

Authors: MELİS KESKİN YILDIZ, YUSUF KEMAL KEMALOĞLU, YETKİN TUAÇ, GÜVEN MENGÜ, RECEP KARAMERT, ÇAĞIL GÖKDOĞAN

Abstract: Background/aim: Subjective noise sensitivity (SNS) is not only one of the most important predictors of perceived noise annoyance for the subjects exposed to the noise, but also strongly related with some psychological conditions and poor health perception of the subjects. Weinstein's Noise Sensitivity Scale (WNSS) is widely used for measuring of SNS. Materials and methods: In this study we adapted WNSS to Turkish (Tr-WNSS) and evaluated its psychometric properties and effect of age, sex and education level on SNS. Results: The study included 105 males and 105 female subjects between 18 and 55 years of age. Conclusion: Our data demonstrated that Tr-WNSS was a reliable, valid, and invariant scale for the Turkish population, and not affected by sex, age and education level.

Keywords: Noise annoyance, noise sensitivity, questionnaire survey, Weinstein's noise sensitivity scale

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