A study of the accuracy of mobile technology for measuring urban noise pollution in large scale participatory sensing campaigns

The study reports on the relevancy and accuracy of using mobile phones in participatory noise pollution monitoring studies in an urban context. During one year, 60 participants used the same smartphone model to measure environmental noise at 28 different locations in Paris. All measurements were performed with the same calibrated application. The sound pressure level was recorded from the microphone every second during a 10-min period. The participants frequently measured the evolution of the sound level near two standard monitoring sound stations (in a square and near a boulevard), which enables the assessment of the accuracy and relevancy of collected acoustic measurements. The instantaneous A-weighting sound level, energy indicators such as L_A,eq, L_A10, L_A50 or L_A90 and event indicators such as the number of noise events exceeding a certain threshold L_α (NNEL ? L_α) were measured and compared with reference measurements. The results show that instantaneous sound levels measured with mobile phones correlate very well (r > 0.9, p < 0.05) with sound levels measured with a class 1 reference sound level meter with a root mean square error smaller than 3 dB(A). About 10% of the measurements for the boulevard location (respectively 20% for the square) were inaccurate (r < 0.3, p < 0.05). Nevertheless, mobile phone measurements are in agreement for the L_A50 and the L_A90 acoustic indicators with the fixed station (4-m high) measurements, with a median deviation smaller than 1.5 dB(A) for the boulevard (respectively 3 dB(A) for the square).     

Acoustic insulation capacity of Vertical Greenery Systems for buildings

Vertical Greenery Systems (VGS) are promising contemporary Green Infrastructure which contribute to the provision of several ecosystem services both at building and urban scales. Among others, the building acoustic insulation and the urban noise reduction could be considered. Traditionally vegetation has been used to acoustically insulate urban areas, especially from the traffic noise. Now, with the introduction of vegetation in buildings, through the VGS, it is necessary to provide experimental data on its operation as acoustic insulation tool in the built environment. In this study the acoustic insulation capacity of two VGS was conducted through in situ measurements according to the UNE-EN ISO 140-5 standard. From the results, it was observed that a thin layer of vegetation (20–30 cm) was able to provide an increase in the sound insulation of 1 dB for traffic noise (in both cases, Green Wall and Green Facade), and an insulation increase between 2 dB (Green Wall) and 3 dB (Green Facade) for a pink noise. In addition to the vegetation contribution to sound insulation, the influence of other factors such as the mass factor (thickness, density and composition of the substrate layer) and type of modular unit of cultivation, the impenetrability (sealing joints between modules) and structural insulation (support structure) must be taken into account for further studies.     

Sound radiation and sound quality characteristics of refrigerator noise in real living environments

The characteristics of various types of refrigerator noise were investigated in an anechoic chamber and in a real living environment - a 100 m² apartment which is a common size in Korea. It was found that the sound pressure level of the refrigerator noise in the real living room was about 10 dB higher than the level in the anechoic chamber at the same position (1 m in front of refrigerator). In addition, a tolerance level for refrigerator noise was determined by subjective evaluation experiments. Refrigerator noise was presented by a loudspeaker placed in the kitchen where the refrigerator is normally located. Level 2 responses to the subjective evaluation (“hardly perceivable”) corresponded to a sound pressure level of about 26 dB(A), for which 90% of participants were satisfied with the level of refrigerator noise. A semantic differential test using various adjectives was also conducted to evaluate the sound quality of refrigerator noise. With the semantic differential and the factor analysis, adjectives used in this experiment were grouped into three factors. From the results of correlation and multiple regression analyses on the psychoacoustical parameters and subjective evaluations of 30 kinds of refrigerators, sound quality index which predict the subjective rating score were proposed.     

Sound quality evaluation of vehicle suspension shock absorber rattling noise based on the Wigner–Ville distribution

In this paper, a new sound metric–Sound Metric based on the Wigner–Ville distribution (SMWVD) – was developed to investigate the relationship between subjective evaluations and vehicle suspension shock absorber rattling noise, which substantially affects passengers’ psychological and physiological perceptions. A complete vehicle road test was conducted to measure the interior shock absorber noises, which were subjectively evaluated by 20 jurors. Conventional psychoacoustic indices, i.e. loudness, sharpness, roughness and fluctuation strength, were used to calculate the correlation coefficients between the objective and subjective evaluations, and then, the results were compared with the performance of the SMWVD. The results show that conventional sound metrics have poor relationships with the subjective ratings, while the SMWVD displayed a high correlation of >0.9 between the objective evaluation and the subjective evaluation. These results indicate that the SMWVD can be used to estimate the rattling noise index of a suspension shock absorber without jury evaluation.     

Anthropogenic sound exposure of marine mammals from seaways: Estimates for Lower St. Lawrence Seaway, eastern Canada

The impact of shipping noise on marine life and quality of marine mammal habitats in oceans and coastal environments has become a major concern worldwide. Background noise can also limits detection of marine mammal sounds in passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems. Characterisation of this noise over long time periods and estimates of the exposure of the different marine mammal groups are still very fragmentary and limited to only a few locations. This paper presents such observations for a part of a busy seaway of North America, the St. Lawrence Seaway, which cuts through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and crosses several cetaceans and pinnipeds feeding areas. Noise was continuously recorded for a 5-month period in summer 2005 by an AURAL autonomous hydrophone deployed close to the bottom in the 300-m deep seaway. The maximum received noise level in the 20 Hz-0.9 kHz band reached 136 dB re 1 μPa_rms. The median level of 112 dB re 1 μPa_rms was exceeded 50% of the time due to transiting merchant ships. Median spectral level tracks the reference curve for heavy traffic in oceans and 50% of the noise is within a ±6 dB envelope around it. Strong spectral lines were common at low frequencies and in the 400-800 Hz band. M-weighting functions applied for the three groups of cetaceans and pinnipeds indicate wideband median levels varying from 106 to 112 dB-M re 1 μPa_rms surrounded by a ±5 dB two-quartile interval. Higher values are expected for animals frequenting the sound channel at intermediate depths. As expected, the highest M-weighting levels correspond to low-frequency specialists and pinnipeds. Criteria for assessing the behavioural and physiological impacts of long term exposure of marine mammals to such shipping noise levels need to be worked out.     

Real-time aircraft noise likeness detector

One of the most difficult tasks involved in the process of noise monitoring near airports is related to the automatic detection and classification of aircraft noise events.These tasks can be solved by applying pattern recognition techniques to the audio signal captured by a microphone. But now the problem is caused by the background noise, which is present in real environments.This paper proposes a real-time method for continuously tracking the similarity of the input sound and the aircraft’s sounds. Using these facilities, the monitoring unit will be able to mark aircraft events, or to make measurements only when aircraft sound is louder than background noise.A one-class approach has been applied to this detection-by-classification method.Using the default setup, 93% of the aircraft’s events which held an SNR of 6-8 dB were detected, for 30 different locations with diverse soundscapes.     

Investigation of rail noise and bridge noise using a combined 3D dynamic model and 2.5D acoustic model

Bridge noise and rail noise are two major sources of an elevated rail transit bridge in the low and medium frequency range (20–1000 Hz). However, in most of the existing literature, the noise radiated from the bridge and rail was investigated separately or using a simplified source model. In this study, an accurate method is proposed to simulate both the rail noise and bridge noise simultaneously. First, the dynamic responses of the rail and multi-span bridge are obtained using a three-dimensional (3D) vehicle-track-bridge interaction analysis model. Then, the two-dimensional (2D) infinite element model is used to calculate 3D modal acoustic transfer vectors of the rail and bridge based on the wavenumber transformation, in order to overcome the singularity and non-uniqueness of the conventional boundary element method and reduce the computation cost. Third, a field test is conducted, and the accuracy of the proposed simulation procedure is verified. Finally, the contribution of the rail and bridge noise to the total noise level is investigated in the whole space near the bridge. Generally the bridge noise occupies a higher contribution in the space beneath the girder due to the shielding effect of the bridge shape on the rail noise, while the rail noise is dominant in the upper space above the bridge. It is found the presence of the vehicle bodies has considerable effect on the rail noise but little influence on the bridge noise. The slope of the roughness level spectrum has significant influence on the dominant field of bridge noise and rail noise. For the excitation of the assumed ISO roughness level used in this study, the difference between the rail noise and bridge noise is only about 3 dB at field points 15–30 m away from the track center, which indicates both the bridge and rail noise should be included in the noise prediction for an elevated rail transit bridge.     

Urban railway traffic noise: Looking for the minimum cost for the whole community

Nowadays, railway traffic noise is acknowledged to negatively impact the wellbeing of the whole community, particularly in urban environments. Unfortunately, the traditional approach to support decision making in noise reduction intervention seems to start only from the compliance to the regulations in place, rather than from the identification of an optimal trade-off between the cost of the annoyance of the community and the cost of the intervention. An advanced approach is proposed, which starts from any annoyance due to traffic noise, and which aims at identifying an optimal trade-off by means of evaluation of the minimum cost for the whole community. A case study in a railway noise-affected urban cluster of Milan, Italy, has been performed, which is representative of any urban environment affected by traffic noise. The sensitivity analysis on the parameters of the approach (the size of the buildings; the level of railway traffic; the cost per square meter of the acoustic barriers) shows that the results are robust and reliable, and in the specific case a noise reduction of 15–25 dB is optimal for the community.     

Reduction of equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure levels by porous elastic road surfaces

A porous elastic road surface (PERS) is superior to drainage asphalt pavement for reducing highway traffic noise. In earlier research and development, for example using a test track, the difference in sound power level (Lw) of cars has been regarded as the noise reduction effect since it was not possible to measure the change in equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (Leq) for a series of vehicles on such a limited length of surface. As the result of a comparatively major test construction on a highway, have measured the noise reduction effect of PERS as the difference in Leq. First, we measured the motor vehicle Lw and Leq on each section. However, we found that the neighbouring paved sections also influenced Leq. Next, we calculated Leq according to a highway traffic noise model, using the values of Lw measured in the different paved sections. Since the calculated Leq corresponded approximately with the measured Leq, we could verify the validity of the measured Lw. We again calculated Leq, assuming that each pavement is infinitely long. We assumed the improvement of noise reduction effect of PERS was indicated through the calculated Leq. Consequently, we have found that the noise reduction effect of drainage asphalt pavement was 5-6 dB, whereas that of PERS was 7-9 dB.     

Investigation of the dose-response relationship for road traffic noise in Assiut, Egypt

A field study has been carried out in urban Assiut city, Egypt. The goals of this study are: (1) to carry out measurements to evaluate road traffic noise levels, (2) to determine if these levels exceeds permissible levels, (3) to examine people’s attitudes towards road traffic noise, (4) to ascertain the relationship between road traffic noise levels and degree of annoyance. The measurements indicate that traffic noise noise levels are higher than those set by Egyptian noise standards and policy to protect public health and welfare in residential areas: equivalent continuous A - weighted sound pressure levels (L_A eq) = 80 dB and higher were recorded, while maximum permissible level is 65 dB. There is a strong relationship between road traffic noise levels and percentage of highly annoyed respondents. Higher road traffic noise levels mean that the percentage of respondents who feel highly annoyed is also increased.     

Shielding against noise interfering with quantitation of insect infestations by acoustic detection systems in grain elevators

Acoustic devices used to detect hidden insect infestations must be shielded from noise in most practical applications. One device developed specifically for use in a noisy environment, the Acoustic Location ‘Fingerprinting’ Insect Detector (ALFID), counts the numbers of insects present in grain samples from shipments being graded for export at commercial grain elevators. This report considers the performance of ALFID's noise-shielding components, which include an enclosure for passive reduction of ambient noise, and an electronic system for active detection and masking of sounds originating outside the grain sample container. Sound pressure levels (SPLs) of ambient noise are reduced inside the enclosure by 60–90 dB at frequencies between 1 and 10 kHz, with a reduction of ~6.5 dB per octave (frequency doubling). The active noise-masking system protects ALFID from loud ambient sounds not sufficiently attenuated by the enclosure. If the output from one of four sensors mounted on the outside of the grain sample container rises above a preset amplitude threshold, a signal is triggered that inhibits acquisition of insect sound data from sensors inside the container. In tests of the complete ALFID system at a grain elevator with ambient noise of 73 ± W dB re 20 μPa SPL, the mean rate of noise-mask triggering was 5.5 s⁻¹, inhibiting acquisition of insect sounds for only 3.9% of the total testing period. This level of performance is sufficient to enable successful operation of ALFID under such noise conditions.     

A new indicator to measure the noise impact around airports: The Real Estate Tolerance Level (RETL) – Case study around Charles de Gaulle Airport

The Community Tolerance Level (CTL) is a new indicator which characterizes the impact of aircraft noise around local airport. It corresponds to the exposure sound level (DENL or DNL) where 50% of the population is highly annoyed. Inspired by this indicator, this paper aims at calculating the Real Estate Tolerance Level (RETL) which corresponds to the exposure sound level where a property price is 50% depreciated compared to the price of the same property which would be situated in an area whose DENL is below 50 dB(A). The use of a notarial database analyzed with the Hedonic Price Model (HPM) made it possible to calculate the percentage of property price depreciation around CDG airport, with 1-dB steps of DENL, and so far to calculate the RETL. 19,891 house transactions and 23,264 apartments have been localized with a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and crossed with the Sound Environment Curves provided by Airport of Paris. The RETL value for single houses and for apartments around CDG is 75.8 dB. It is comparable to the mean CTL value which has been estimated to 73.3 dB from the DNL data of 43 airports over the world (about 73.9 dB from DENL data). The RETL is predictable without field survey and could characterize the impact of aircraft noise around local airports. It could be a good indicator to follow the evolution of population tolerance over the years.     

Flow-induced noise in a suction nozzle with a centrifugal fan of a vacuum cleaner and its reduction

Noise reduction in a vacuum cleaner with a brush nozzle for cleaning a bed blanket is investigated numerically in fluid dynamic aspects. Governing equations describing nonlinear flow fields in a suction nozzle are solved simultaneously. The components of a rotary fan, a brush drum, and a separation block are installed in the nozzle. First, flow patterns in the nozzle are analyzed and based on them, flow resistance is evaluated to find a primary noise source. Flow resistance induces the loss of a suction performance as well as noise generation. In the brush nozzle, the separation block and the rotary fan obstruct smooth air flow and result in high level of noise emission. The rotation of the fan itself affects little noise generation. From the numerical results, a method to reduce noise and maintain the suction performance is suggested. In this method, the suction performance is increased through the optimization of the separation block, which is attained by the modification of its shape. And then, the height of a fan blade is shortened, leading to the performance loss. At the cost of it, the sound power level of noise is reduced by 4-5 dB(A) and at the same time, the tonal noise and the sound quality are improved appreciably. The method has been verified by experimental tests. It is found that in the brush nozzle, flow resistance is critical in noise emission and accordingly, fluid dynamic approach to noise reduction is effective.     

Measurement of noise associated with model transformer cores

The performance of a transformer core may be considered in terms of power loss and by the noise generated by the core, both of which should be minimised. This paper discusses the setting up of a suitable system for evaluation of noise in a large model transformer core (500 kV A) and issues associated with noise measurement. The equivalent continuous sound pressure level (LAeq) was used as a measure of the A-weighted sound level and measurements were made in the range 16 Hz–25 kHz for various step lap core configurations. The selection of optimum sound insulation materials between core and ground support and for enclosing the transformer is essential for minimisation of background noise. Core clamping pressure must be optimised in order to minimise noise. The use of two laminations per layer instead of one leads to an increase in noise arising from the core. Provided care is taken in building the core, good reproducibility of results can be obtained for analysis.     

Temperature effect on tyre-road noise

Tyre-road noise emission decreases when the outdoor temperature increases, with a variation that can exceed −0.1 dB(A)/°C. This effect depends on tyre-road combination, but semi-generic corrections can improve the accuracy of tyre-road noise measurements. In this paper, the variation of pass-by noise level of a passenger car at 90 km/h with temperature is investigated, on seven types of road surfaces, under different temperature conditions. A good correlation between air, road surface and tyre temperature is outlined. A linear relationship between noise level and air temperature variations is observed for bituminous pavements, of about −0.1 dB(A)/°C, but reduced to −0.06 dB(A)/°C for pavements having porosity. No temperature effect is observed on cement concrete pavements. A spectral analysis shows that the temperature effect is highest in low and high frequency range, what can be explained by generating mechanisms rather than propagation.     

Influence of turbulence on train noise

The subject of this paper is the long distance propagation of train noise. The sound exposure level of train noise L_AE was measured. To describe the results of measurements, a semi-analytical model was used. It takes into account the wave-front divergence, air absorption, ground effect, and the turbulence destroying the coherent nature of the ground effect. The model contains three adjustable parameters that must be estimated at the site. To verify the model, we performed measurements of L_AE at the distance D = 450 m from the train track center. The difference between the calculated and measured mean values of L_AE equals 1.3 dB.     

Design and experimental tests of active control barriers for low-frequency stationary noise reduction in urban outdoor environment

Active noise control (ANC) techniques are based on the emission of an antiphase signal in order to cancel the noise produced by a primary source. ANC has been successfully applied especially for reducing noise in confined environments, such as headphones and ducts. In this study, we present an application of ANC concepts to the design of an anti-noise barrier for an outdoor environment and its experimental testing. Even though passive techniques are effective in noise reduction at middle-high frequencies, they become less efficient at low frequencies (below 300 Hz) due to the limited dimensions of commonly deployable barriers. In this paper, we analyze the properties of a low-cost active noise system able to efficiently operate on stationary, almost pure-tone, low-frequency noise, such as that produced by electrical transformers and reactors in power and transformation plants. A prototype has been implemented and on-the-field experimental tests have been carried out. The results (confirmed also by numerical simulations) demonstrate a remarkable efficiency in the far field, with a reduction up to 15 dB with respect to the absence of the ANC system.     

Use of the sound levels of noise for assessing the adequacy of hearing protectors

The dB(A) sound level of a noise is accepted as a measure of the damage risk to unprotected ears but often it is not a reliable guide to the risk to ears fitted with hearing protectors. For any dB(A) level inside a protector, normally there will be substantially higher sound levels outside that protector. This paper shows how, from sequential frequency attenuation bands of the protector, and sound level weightings, external sound levels can be calculated, below which the noise inside the protector does not exceed a chosen dB(A) level. Further valuable information may be obtained by mapping external dB(A) and dB(C) levels to cover all possible noise spectra that give the chosen dB(A) level inside the protector. Thus, from a pair of measured sound levels, use of the method indicates whether the protector is sufficient or not, or whether more detailed measurment of the noise is required. This knowledge enhances the scope of the sound level meter and reduces the need for frequency analysis of industrial noise. Its application should be a helpful addition to the data provided by suppliers of hearing protectors.     

Intensity noise suppression of light field by optoelectronic feedback

An optoelectronic feedback loop intended to suppress intensity noise of a light field is introduced in this paper. A maximum intensity noise reduction of 10 dB is experimentally achieved between frequency of 0?140 kHz on a 1064 nm DPSS continuous wave single-frequency solid-state laser. After optimization and miniaturization, this system is expected to be widely used as a simple ?Noise-Eater?.     

Wind dependence of ambient noise in shallow water of Bay of Bengal

This work reports on investigations into the wind dependence of ambient noise in the Bay of Bengal. Ambient noise measurements were made in the shallow water of Bay of Bengal using a portable broadband, high frequency data acquisition system together with a sensitive hydrophone suspended from the measuring platform at a depth of 5 m from the surface where the ocean depth was 25 m. Periodic measurements were carried out for one year corresponding to a wind speed range between 2 m/s and 9 m/s during summer, monsoon and winter seasons. The proportionality of the noise level with wind speed for frequencies ranging from 500 Hz to 6 kHz for each season was studied. The analysis reveals that the correlation between the wind speed and the ambient noise spectrum level was higher at lower frequencies. The results of empirical fitting based on analysis were used for noise level prediction and the model predictions compare well with the measured noise level. Further it was observed that the wind generated noise level measured during summer was approximately 8 dB less than that in other seasons. On the other hand the proportionality between the noise level and the wind speed was less during winter.