Utilizing Electricity Consumption Data to Assess the Noise Discomfort Caused by Electrical Appliances between Neighbors: A Case Study of a Campus Apartment Building

Abstract

Real-time collection of household electricity consumption data has been facilitated by an advanced metering infrastructure. In recent studies, collected data have been processed to provide information on household appliance usage. The noise caused by electrical appliances from neighboring households constitutes a major issue, which is related to discomfort and even mental diseases. The assessment of noise discomfort using electricity consumption data has not been dealt with in the literature up to this day. In this study, a method that utilizes electricity consumption data for the assessment of noise discomfort levels caused by electrical appliances between neighboring households is proposed. This method is based on the differences in the usage time of electrical appliances in a collective residential building. The proposed method includes the following four steps: data collection and preprocessing, residential units clustering, noise discomfort modeling, and evaluation of noise discomfort. This method is demonstrated through a case study of a campus apartment building. Variations in the noise discomfort assessment model and measures for alleviating noise discomfort are also discussed. The proposed method can guide the application of electricity consumption data to the assessment and alleviation of noise discomfort from home appliances at an apartment building.