A Review of Research Trends on Passengers' Aural Discomfort Caused by Rail Tunnel Pressure Change
Hiroaki SUZUKI, Naoki FUKUSHIMA, Kazuhiko TEZUKA, Katsunori AKUTSU
Passengers sometimes feel an aural discomfort caused by pressure change when the train
passes the tunnels at high speed. Recently, with speedup on the narrow-gauge lines,
passengers' aural discomfort in unsealed rolling stock has become a problem. The purpose
of this paper is to review many researches on this theme, and to establish the guideline
for the pressure change. As a result of reviewing many research materials covering various
transport systems, notably the most suggestive research by British Railway, we propose
a provisional guideline for the pressure change in unsealed stock, setting an index of
2.0kPa within any 4 second period.