A Linguistic preliminary study about noise perception

The activities of the project "TRIPLO: TRasporti e collegamenti Innovativi e sostenibili tra Porti e piattaforme Logistiche", financed with the resources of the Interregional Operational Programme Italy-France Maritime 2014- 2020, have as specific objective to improve the sustainability of commercial ports and related logistic platforms, contributing to the reduction of noise pollution [1][2]. Some activities in the project are aimed at assessing the acoustic impact on the population exposed to noise generated by back port activities, in relation to individual perception. In environmental surveys, only technical investigations can objectively describe a phenomenon [3], but at the same time they do not guarantee its universality with respect to perception; a sound can be considered both as a physical phenomenon, and therefore measurable through objective parameters, and as a phenomenon linked to sound perception, of a subjective nature and consequent to the psycho-physical-emotional state of the subject. These two characteristics are strictly interdependent, so it is insufficient to limit to examine them separately. The population constitutes a precious source of information in the evaluation of the quality of the space in which they live or work, suggesting the relationships between environment, comfort and productivity. It is therefore important to use subjective investigation tools through which the opinion of the population can become a valid support to traditional methods of analysis and improve the overall evaluation.