A threatened beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) population in the traffic lane: vessel-generated noise characteristics of the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, Canada

The threatened resident beluga population of the St. Lawrence Estuary shares the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park with significant anthropogenic noise sources, including marine commercial traffic and a well-established, vessel-based whale-watching industry. Frequency-dependent (FD) weighting was used to approximate beluga hearing sensitivity to determine how noise exposure varied in time and space at six sites of high beluga summer residency. The relative contribution of each source to acoustic habitat degradation was estimated by measuring noise levels throughout the summer and noise signatures of typical vessel classes with respect to traffic volume and sound propagation characteristics. Rigid-hulled inflatable boats were the dominant noise source with respect to estimated beluga hearing sensitivity in the studied habitats due to their high occurrence and proximity, high correlation with site-specific FD-weighted sound levels, and the dominance of mid-frequencies (0.3-23 kHz) in their noise signatures. Median C-weighted sound pressure level (SPL(RMS)) had a range of 19 dB re 1 μPa between the noisiest and quietest sites. Broadband SPL(RMS) exceeded 120 dB re 1 μPa 8-32% of the time depending on the site. Impacts of these noise levels on St. Lawrence beluga will depend on exposure recurrence and individual responsiveness.     

水下声学浮标南中国海海洋环境噪声实测分析*

海洋环境噪声是多种自然噪声和人为噪声的复杂组合,其谱级大小和频率组成是影响声纳系统探测性能的重要参数,由于海洋环境噪声时空域特性是非常复杂的,因此需要对海洋环境噪声进行长时间和大范围的观测才足以分析其特性。本文通过在多剖面水下浮标平台基础上集成声学测量系统,研制出了一种具有海洋环境噪声监测能力的水下声学浮标平台,该浮标平台可多次上浮、下潜,具备原位坐底和定深漂流两种工作模式,能够连续观测海洋环境噪声时长多达几个月。利用2019年8月在南海海区组织的多台水下声学浮标组网试验数据,分析了不同频率海洋环境噪声谱级随时间变化特性,数据处理结果符合海洋环境噪声典型变化规律,试验表明,水下声学浮标可作为一种潜在的优势水下无人移动平台,用于长期监测海洋环境噪声特性。     

Estimating health related costs and savings from balcony acoustic design for road traffic noise

A multi-faceted study is conducted with the objective of estimating the potential fiscal savings in annoyance and sleep disturbance related health costs due to providing improved building acoustic design standards. This study uses balcony acoustic treatments in response to road traffic noise as an example. The study area is the State of Queensland in Australia, where regional road traffic noise mapping data is used in conjunction with standard dose–response curves to estimate the population exposure levels. The background and the importance of using the selected road traffic noise indicators are discussed. In order to achieve the objective, correlations between the mapping indicator (L_{A10 (18 hour)}) and the dose response curve indicators (L_den and L_night) are established via analysis on a large database of road traffic noise measurement data. The existing noise exposure of the study area is used to estimate the fiscal reductions in health related costs through the application of simple estimations of costs per person per year per degree of annoyance or sleep disturbance. The results demonstrate that balcony acoustic treatments may provide a significant benefit towards reducing the health related costs of road traffic noise in a community.     

Two-parametric model of the spectrum of traffic noise in Tomsk

The technique of mapping urban noise is proposed on the basis of a two-parameter model of the acoustic noise spectrum. The acoustic noise and spatial distribution of the decay rate in Tomsk are mapped. The factors influencing the formation of the acoustic noise of traffic flow are described. Analysis is performed on how different operating modes of a vehicle??s internal combustion engine affect the background level of acoustic noise.     

Auditory masking of a 10 kHz tone with environmental, comodulated, and Gaussian noise in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

The pattern of auditory masking derived from Gaussian noise is often cited and used to predict the detrimental effects of masking noise on marine mammals. However, environmental noise (both anthropogenic and natural) may not always be Gaussian distributed. Some noise sources are highly structured with complex amplitude fluctuations that extend across frequency regions, which are often termed comodulated noise. Recent evidence with bottlenose dolphins using comodulated noise demonstrated a significant release from masking compared to Gaussian maskers of the same bandwidth and pressure spectral density level, a result known as comodulation masking release. The present study demonstrates a pattern of masking where both temporally fluctuating comodulated noise and environmental noise produce lower masked thresholds compared to Gaussian noise of the same spectral density level and bandwidth. Furthermore, a threshold reduction or "masking release" occurred when the environmental noise bandwidth increased beyond a critical band. These results provide further evidence that conventional models of auditory masking using Gaussian maskers (i.e., the power spectrum model) do not fully describe the masking effects that occur in realistic environments.     

Comments on “variational equations for thin elastic shells”

A further study consisting of acoustic and subjective measurements of 552 Chinese firemen at 12 fire stations in Hong Kong has been carried out. Annoyance with aircraft and traffic noise conditions, as expressed by the firemen, was found to correlate well with the acoustic measurements. For aircraft noise the correlation of annoyance with the Number and Noise Index (NNI) was slightly better than with the dB(A) peak value. For traffic noise the similar correlation with the mean sound pressure levels which exceeds 10 % of the sampling period (L₁₀) was slightly better than with the Noise Pollution Level and the Traffic Noise Index. The correlation of the arousal due to the aircraft and traffic noise was similarly found to depend on the NNI and L₁₀ values. However, traffic noise was responsible for more disturbance than aircraft noise. The study demonstrated the desirability of adopting indoor acoustic measurements instead of outdoor measurements for any survey of this kind.     

New vehicle noise emission for French traffic noise prediction

Traffic noise prediction models in France are based on vehicle noise emission values defined by the French Guide du Bruit des Transports Terrestres (Noise Guide for Ground Transport - Noise levels prediction). These emission values are suited for models addressing the noise assessments of road infrastructures and the dimensioning of acoustic protections, needing traffic noise estimations in terms of ?_Aeq over a long period of time (an hour or more).The values, obtained from measurements collected in the 70s, are updated in the publication of a new guide (Methodological Guide, Vehicle noise emissions, to be published), which addresses the road surface influence on tyre/road noise. The emission values are now expressed through the contributions of a power unit component, function of traffic speed, traffic flow type and road declivity, and of a rolling noise component, function of traffic speed and road pavement.The paper outlines the procedures followed to determine the components, gives their numerical values, and illustrates some vehicle noise emissions.     

Estimated communication range and energetic cost of bottlenose dolphin whistles in a tropical habitat

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) depend on frequency-modulated whistles for many aspects of their social behavior, including group cohesion and recognition of familiar individuals. Vocalization amplitude and frequency influences communication range and may be shaped by many ecological and physiological factors including energetic costs. Here, a calibrated GPS-synchronized hydrophone array was used to record the whistles of bottlenose dolphins in a tropical shallow-water environment with high ambient noise levels. Acoustic localization techniques were used to estimate the source levels and energy content of individual whistles. Bottlenose dolphins produced whistles with mean source levels of 146.7 ± 6.2 dB re. 1 μPa(RMS). These were lower than source levels estimated for a population inhabiting the quieter Moray Firth, indicating that dolphins do not necessarily compensate for the high noise levels found in noisy tropical habitats by increasing their source level. Combined with measured transmission loss and noise levels, these source levels provided estimated median communication ranges of 750 m and maximum communication ranges up to 5740 m. Whistles contained less than 17 mJ of acoustic energy, showing that the energetic cost of whistling is small compared to the high metabolic rate of these aquatic mammals, and unlikely to limit the vocal activity of toothed whales.     

Comodulation masking release in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

The acoustic environment of the bottlenose dolphin often consists of noise where energy across frequency regions is coherently modulated in time (e.g., ambient noise from snapping shrimp). However, most masking studies with dolphins have employed random Gaussian noise for estimating patterns of masked thresholds. The current study demonstrates a pattern of masking where temporally fluctuating comodulated noise produces lower masked thresholds (up to a 17 dB difference) compared to Gaussian noise of the same spectral density level. Noise possessing wide bandwidths, low temporal modulation rates, and across-frequency temporal envelope coherency resulted in lower masked thresholds, a phenomenon known as comodulation masking release. The results are consistent with a model where dolphins compare temporal envelope information across auditory filters to aid in signal detection. Furthermore, results suggest conventional models of masking derived from experiments using random Gaussian noise may not generalize well to environmental noise that dolphins actually encounter.     

滨海公共空间声环境感知评价及影响因素*

滨海公共空间是滨海城市人居环境的重要组成部分,其声环境质量是影响公共空间环境体验的关键因素。本研究以青岛沿海岸线四类滨海公共空间（步道类、广场类、公园类、沙滩类）的声环境为对象,通过问卷调查和实地测量探索滨海公共空间声环境的特征、感知评价及其影响因素。结果表明：（1）滨海公共空间当前环境噪声水平基本不超过国家标准限值55dB(A) ,各类空间声环境客观特征显著不同：公园噪声水平最低,自然声源丰富;广场噪声水平最高,各种城市噪声较多;步道噪声水平较低,但受到交通噪声的影响;沙滩噪声水平较高,但以中低频的海浪声为主,比较稳定。（2）各类滨海公共空间的声源感知以自然声为主,但是广场的自然声源感知较少。此外,声环境的愉悦感评价普遍较高,但在事件感、吵闹度和总体满意度评价上具有显著差异：沙滩声环境总体评价最好,其次是公园,广场和步道的声环境则亟待改善。（3）交通噪声和最大声级Lmax对声环境的负面影响最为显著,此外受访者年龄也是影响滨海公共空间声环境感知评价的关键因素。研究结论可以为滨海公共空间声环境的优化设计提供理论依据。     

Environmental acoustic quality in Jeddah urban sites

Surveys of physical exposure to noise at urban sites in Jeddah city indicate that noise from road traffic is very intensive. Relatively high instant sound levels (90 dB(A) and higher) were recorded on a numbr of congested, as well as freely-flowing traffic, roads. Values of the statistical indicators $\text{L}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>10</mtext>}}$, $\text{L}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>50</mtext>}}$, $\text{L}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>90</mtext>}}$ and $\text{L}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>dn</mtext>}}$ were determined for indoor domestic noise and comparisons with current western standards show that the levels determined exceeded the limits of dissatisfaction given by those standards. Overall sound pressure levels measured inside typical university offices indicate that the presence of individual room-units of air-conditioning impairs the acoustic quality in those environments. The results of a social survey on noise perception in residential areas are in good agreement with the above findings, indicating that 89 per cent of people interviewed were substantially disturbed by traffic noise. The results of this research, however, demonstrate the necessity for the application of a traffic noise control programme on Jeddah main roads and also the need for attention to be paid to the indoor acoustic quality of homes and offices.     

A framework for the automated real-time detection of short tonal sounds from ocean observatories

Acquisition of acoustic data from ocean observatories is expected to play a key role for the long-term monitoring of marine mammals and anthropogenic noise. It typically requires processing of a large volume of acoustic data and it must rely on automated identification of signals. We present an algorithmic framework for the detection of short tonal sounds (e.g. cetacean calls, anthropogenic pings) intended to act as a first stage in a system for the automated real-time detection, classification, and localisation of acoustic sources. The algorithm was validated under a diversity of scenarios expected at ocean observatories. Using simulated signals that emulate a variety of cetacean call-types, perfect identification of signal position was obtained for signal to noise ratios of ?15 to ?5 dB, depending on the signal-type. Separation of real-world data segments with short tonal sounds (mainly cetacean calls) from segments with other sounds or noise resulted in Area Under the ROC Curve values between 0.96 and 0.98. The algorithm can be used to automatically identify cetacean calls and anthropogenic short tonal sounds much faster than in real-time, thereby reducing the burden put on data transmission, storage, or processing by classification and localisation algorithms.     

Noise reduction in tunnels by hard rough surfaces

This paper examines the feasibility of using two-dimensional hard rough surfaces to reduce noise levels in traffic tunnels with perfectly reflecting boundaries. First, the Twersky boss model is used to estimate the acoustic impedance of a hard rough surface. Second, an image source model is then used to compute the propagation of sound in a long rectangular enclosure with finite impedance. The total sound fields are calculated by summing the contributions from all image sources coherently. Two model tunnels are built to validate the proposed model experimentally. Finally, a case study for a realistic geometrical configuration is presented to explore the use of hard rough surfaces for reducing traffic noise in a tunnel which is constructed with hard boundaries.     

North Pacific right whale up-call source levels and propagation distance on the southeastern Bering Sea shelf

Call source levels, transmission loss, and ambient noise levels were estimated for North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica) up-calls recorded in the southeastern Bering Sea in autumn of 2000 and 2001. Distances to calling animals, needed to estimate source levels, were based on two independent techniques: (1) arrival-time differences on three or more hydrophones and (2) shallow-water dispersion of normal modes on a single receiver. Average root-mean-square (rms) call source levels estimated by the two techniques were 178 and 176 dB re 1 μPa at 1 m, respectively, over the up-call frequency band, which was determined per call and averaged 90 to 170 Hz. Peak-to-peak source levels were 14 to 22 dB greater than rms levels. Transmission loss was approximately 15?log(10)(range), intermediate between cylindrical and spherical spreading. Ambient ocean noise within the up-call band varied from 72 to 91 dB re 1 μPa(2)/Hz. Under average noise conditions, call spectrograms were detectable for whales at distances up to 100 km, but propagation and detection distance may vary depending on environmental parameters and anthropogenic noise. Obtaining distances to animals and acoustic detection range is a step toward using long-term passive acoustic recordings to estimate abundance for this critically endangered whale population.     

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.     

低噪声通过特性的测量仿真研究

本文研究运用组合传感器和声压、振速联合信息处理技术进行低品声通过特性的测量。通过特性的背景噪声出非相干的各向同性白噪声和相干的交通干扰组成,交通干扰又分为平稳与非平稳两种,用平均声强器来抗非相干干扰;用交通干扰能量流中心方位抑制技术来抗平稳的相干干扰;对于非平稳的相干干扰而能量流中心方位抑制技术。仿真试验表明效果良好。     

Adverse Effects of Environmental Noise on Acoustic Voice Quality Measurements

An accurate analysis of voice quality is imperative when using acoustic measurements to diagnose vocal pathologies. It is known that noise has a significant effect on the reliability and validity of acoustic voice measurements, but the precise relationship has not been established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of noise on the accuracy, reliability, and validity of acoustic voice quality measurements while balancing for gender, age, intersubject and intrasubject variability, microphones, computer hardware, analysis software, and type of noise. Level of noise was precisely controlled. The specific focus of interest was to determine the critical levels of noise that can invalidate voice quality measurements and to generate practical recommendations. Results suggest that the recommended, acceptable, and unacceptable levels of noise in the acoustic environment are above 42 dB, above 30 dB, and below 30 dB signal-to-noise ratio, respectively.     

A road traffic noise pattern simulation model that includes distributions of vehicle sound power levels

Annoyance, sleep disturbance and other health effects of road traffic noise exposure may be related to both level and number of noise events caused by traffic, not just to energy equivalent measures of exposure. Dynamic traffic noise prediction models that include instantaneous vehicle noise emissions can be used to estimate either of these measures. However, current state-of-the-art vehicle noise emission models typically consider a single emission law for each vehicle category, whereas measurements show that the variation in noise emission between vehicles within the same category can be considerable. It is essential that the influence of vehicles that are producing significantly more (or less) noise than the average vehicle are taken into account in modeling in order to correctly predict the levels and frequency of occurrence of road traffic noise events, and in particular to calculate indicators that characterize these noise events. Here, an approach for predicting instantaneous sound levels caused by road traffic is presented, which takes into account measured distributions of sound power levels produced by individual vehicles. For the setting of a receiver adjacent to a dual-lane road carrying free flow traffic, the effect of this approach on estimated percentile levels and sound event indicators is investigated.