Appraisal of Urban Road Traffic Noise in tier-II City (Surat City), India

Urban road traffic noise pollution has always been identified as a severe problem that affects urban populants. In developing nation, road traffic noise pollution depends on the composition of heterogeneous traffic composition. These traffic compositions contain vehicles, which have different sizes, speeds variations, a different dimension of vehicles. Environmental noise measurements have been carried out during day-time and night-time in different locations of tier-II city of India. The noise levels have been continuously measured over 24 h periods using kimo DB 300 class-2 noise level meter. The data contained in this research paper represent 768 measurement hours. All the information has been used to investigate the time patterns of the noise levels under a wide range of different conditions and to study the relationships between noise levels and traffic in urban areas. Maximum L_Aeq was observed 73.3 dB(A) at B₁₄ location and the minimum was recorded 65.7 dB(A) at C₃ location, which was greater than the central pollution control board (CPCB) prescribed limits during night time. A major reason for the generation of road traffic noise is due to the equal composition of 2-wheeler and 4-wheeler on the arterial road and heavy vehicles were recorded during morning peak and evening peak even though they are prohibited during peak hours.     

Noise mapping in urban environments: A Taiwan study

This study analyzed the spatial characteristics of urban environmental noise by using noise maps produced at 345 noise monitoring stations in Tainan, Taiwan. Noise data were collected at varying intervals: morning, afternoon, and evening in both summer and winter. The spatial distributions of the noise levels during each time interval were evaluated and visualized by geographic information systems. The analytical results indicated that the highest and lowest average noise levels were 69.6 dB(A) and 59.3 dB(A) during summer mornings and winter evenings, respectively. Comparison of monitored noise levels with regulatory standards revealed that noise standard violations, which usually occur on summer evenings, are as high as 23 dB(A). Furthermore, the results of noise exposure analysis showed that over 90% of the Tainan City population are exposed to unacceptable noise as defined by US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The findings of this study show that noise maps can be useful for investigating noise in urban environments.     

Evaluation and analysis of the environmental noise of Messina, Italy

In this paper, the results of a study on the environmental noise pollution of the city of Messina (Italy) are presented. The investigation has included a preliminary classification of the territory in six acoustically homogeneous areas according to Italian noise regulations. On the basis of the resultant acoustic zoning 35 sites were selected for an experimental survey. This last has been carried out by extensive measurements of the main indexes for noise pollution (L_eq, L₁, L₁₀, L₅₀, L₉₀, L₉₉) and of the traffic flow and composition. Results indicate that: (a) main roads of Messina are overloaded by traffic flow during day-time period and that in all the examined sites daily average sound levels due to road traffic exceed environmental standards by about 10 dBA; (b) environmental noise exhibits a certain degree of spatial variance resulting primarily from the peculiar geo-morphological structure of the town and from the transport infrastructure and (c) more than 25% of residents should be highly disturbed by road traffic noise.     

Effects of urban morphology on the traffic noise distribution through noise mapping: A comparative study between UK and China

Due to the rapid urban development and massive population increase in many eastern cities, the difference in urban density and morphology between typical western and eastern cities is becoming significant. This consequently makes the noise distribution in the eastern cities rather different from typical low density European cities. In this research, two representative cities with different urban densities, Greater Manchester in the UK and Wuhan in China, were selected, which have low and high average urban density respectively, and also have considerable differences in building form and traffic pattern. In the mean time, these two cities have similar urban scale and traffic amount. In each city, based on the urban morphological analyses considering urban land-use, building and road density, and noise source distribution, a number of typical urban areas, 500 * 500 m² each, were sampled. A noise-mapping software package was then used to generate generic noise maps, based on existing digital vector maps for terrain and building, and traffic data obtained by on-site measurements. The comparison results show that the average and minimum noise level in Greater Manchester samples is generally higher than that in Wuhan samples, while the maximum noise level in Wuhan samples is mostly higher. By developing a Matlab program, correlations have been analysed between noise distributions and the urban characteristics relating to urban density, such as the road and building coverage ratio. Overall, comparisons between these two typical cities have shown significant effects of urban morphology on the traffic noise distribution.     

Noise map validation by continuous noise monitoring

This paper presents a comparison of two noise assessments in the Gdansk agglomeration in Poland. One is based on the noise map produced by computational method for the city in 2007, the second one is based on real data from continuous measurements acquired by a noise monitoring network operating in the city since 2008. Differences are shown and analyzed. Additionally, seasonal and weekday influence on noise indicators (L_DEN, L_D, L_E and L_N) is analyzed and discussed in this paper.     

Environmental noise pollution in the city of Curitiba, Brazil

This paper presents the results obtained in a study on environmental noise pollution in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. The equivalent sound level values—L_{Aeq, 2hr}—were measured and tabulated for 1000 locations spread over the urban zones of the city of Curitiba. It has been found out that 93.3% out of the locations display during the day equivalent sound levels over 65 dB(A), and 40.3% out of the total number of locations measured display during the day extremely high values of equivalent sound levels: over 75 dB(A).     

Prediction and Limitations of Noise Maps Developed for Heterogeneous Urban Road Traffic Condition: A Case Study of Surat City,India

Road traffic noise pollution has been recognized as a serious issue which affects human health as well as affects urban regions. Noise maps are very beneficial to identify the impact of noise pollution. A noise mapping study performed to study the propagation of noise in tier-II city along with field measurements. The noise maps are developed using a computer simulation model (SoundPLAN essential 4.0 software). The noise prediction models like U.K’s CoRTN, Germany’s RLS-90, and their modified versions, which can be used for homogenous road traffic conditions, cannot be successfully applied in heterogeneous road traffic conditions of India. In developing country like India, road traffic noise pollution depends on the composition of heterogeneous traffic volume, variance in road geometrical, honking conditions, un-authorized parking, and varying density of the building on either side of the road. These traffic compositions contain vehicles, which have different sizes, speeds variations, a different dimension of vehicles. Because of fluctuating speeds, lack of lane disciplines, and un-authorized parking on main road lanes, honking events becomes inevitable, which changes and affects the urban soundscape of nations like India. Analysis of noise maps showed that horn honking due to un-authorized parked vehicles contributed an additional increase up to 11 dB (A) noise, which is quite significant.     

Easing the concept “Balanced Approach” to airports with densely busy surroundings – The case of Congonhas Airport

This paper presents the difficulties found in trying to apply the “Balanced Approach” concept of ICAO (UN-International Civil Aviation Organization) on the noise pollution mitigation at urban Brazilian airports using, as a case study, the Congonhas Airport. It has been discussed by means of alternative operating scenarios, how to make the concept more flexible, aiming to bring the benefit of any additional acoustic comfort, without diminishing the installed capacity and already limited for environmental reasons. The results show that there are conditions for improvement, since there are both awareness of all players involved and permanent and real-time noise monitoring, even if those mitigating measures are not reflected on the noise annoyance models currently adopted for the land use planning.     

Assessment of railway noise in an urban setting

The railroads that pass through the city of Curitiba played an important role in Brazil’s economic development. When the rail tracks were laid down, their route was consistent with the city’s layout, but today they are incompatible with its occupation and urban density. Due to its considerable presence in the urban grid, the railway track causes many problems to the population living in its proximities, such as noise pollution. The purpose of this study was therefore to assess the noise levels generated by a railway that passes through an urban area of a large city and to evaluate possible steps that could be adopted to mitigate the noise levels. To this end, three possible alternatives were simulated to control the noise pollution generated by railway traffic: (1) exclusion of the train horn, (2) inclusion of acoustic barriers, and (3) removal of the railway tracks from the urban perimeter. Noise levels were assessed in the surroundings of two major hospitals and a large educational institution. Acoustic mapping revealed that the simulated noise mitigation measures led to a reduction of 2–12 dB(A) in noise levels reaching the facades of the hospitals and school.     

Community noise survey of the city of Valdivia, Chile

A noise map of the city of Valdivia is created as a way to evaluate the noise of the city. This is a process that is usually associated with high operative costs. Some statistical techniques have been employed that have allowed the extrapolation of some measured values to assess noise at different times of the year, including “off” days thus reducing time and costs. The day-evening-night level L_DEN is used as the rating method to describe long-term annoyance. In conclusion, the noise pollution in the city is widespread throughout most of its streets area, where measured noise values are similar to those commonly observed in cities that do not have mitigation programs and whose road traffic is their principal noise generation source.     

Street categorization for the estimation of day levels using short-term measurements

Day time noise level computation by traffic noise model requires realistic traffic data that is hardly ever available for every single street, therefore direct noise levels measurements may be the alternative. However, direct, continuous measurement of the day time noise level (equivalent level from 7 am to 7 pm) is an expensive strategy if a whole city must be assessed. To overcome this situation, short-term measurements of variable duration are often taken in order to estimate the day time noise level (L_d) because they are less expensive and resource demanding than continuous measurements over a whole day or more. From a set of continuous measurements over more than 48 h in 137 streets of nine different cities, the present work quantifies the error committed when using short-term noise measurements as a function of interval length measurement. To enhance estimation accuracy, both a street categorization and a temporal categorization have been attempted: in first place, it is found that the difference between the short-term noise level and L_d follows a different distribution for main roads than for ordinary streets, therefore the error committed depends on the street category. To be specific, when estimating L_d from a 15 min short time measurement the error committed would be ±2 dB with a percent population coverage of 90%, in the case of main streets and in the case of ordinary streets the same error range covers 72.5% of the population. In second place, if the measurement range time is restricted (temporal categorization) from 9 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm in the case of ordinary streets, the percent population coverage increases to 90% when the error range is ±3 dB. When referring to main streets, the measurement range of time is limited from 10 am to 5 pm to obtain an increase of 2% of the percent population coverage when the error is ±1 and ±2 dB.     

Estimating leisure noise in Spanish cities

Noise pollution is a great environmental problem in big cities. In particular, the leisure noise is one of the most significant problems during the night period and the responsible of a growing number of complaints and sleep disturbances from population.For that reason, with the aim of approaching an analysis on spatio-temporal evolution of the leisure noise, some areas with leisure activity as main noise source was sampled. With these results, a protocol to address an appropriate action against leisure noise problems is put forth. This procedure explains how to diagnose a leisure area or predict the noise levels inside these areas. Therefore, the proposed procedure could help taking better solutions in order to reduce the impact of leisure noise on the exposed population.     

Utilizing noise mapping for environmental impact assessment in a downtown redevelopment area of Seoul, Korea

In environmental impact assessment, noise impact assessment usually consists of three stages: surveying the existing noise levels, predicting noise levels induced by future construction works and predicting noise levels after the completion of a project. The distance-attenuation relation of a point source, which has been used in Korea to predict the noise level due to its simplicity, does not consider complex acoustic phenomena like multi-reflections, diffractions and absorptions that arise due to the complex topographic configurations of surrounding buildings and terrains. To consider such physical and acoustical complexities, a noise mapping tool is adopted to produce a series of three noise maps: for the present environment, for the planned construction works and for the future. For meaningful noise mapping, both acoustically- and topographically-good information is essential. Standard sound power levels and directivities of various construction equipments are required. Exact scheduling of construction processes and equipment locations must be provided. When the legal limit is exceeded, mitigation measures are applied to satisfy these limits and a subsequent noise map is constructed to verify the effect of these measures. Foreign prediction models are adopted for the situations in Korea if a certain validation condition is satisfied.     

城市功能区声环境质量监测时间代表性研究

城市功能区声环境质量监测数据是评估我国城市声环境质量水平的重要依据,为科学准确地反映城市功能区声环境质量水平,应选取合理的、具有代表性的监测时间开展监测。本文以某地4个典型的功能区声环境质量监测点位1年的连续监测数据作为样本,分析了不同功能区点位长期噪声波动特征,并采用Kruskal-Wallis 检验（K-W检验）方法,分别分析了一年中各月之间及一周中各日之间噪声水平的差异性。数据处理及分析结果表明：（1）4个监测点位一年中各月之间噪声水平,特别是夜间等效连续A声级之间具有显著差异,一年监测一次显然难以代表全年声环境质量水平;相比较下,每季度监测一次能大幅提高监测结果代表性,季度内的3个月份各月之间无显著差异的比例占80%以上;（2）对于这4个监测点位,一周中在周二至周五之间监测其结果更具代表性。     

A study of noise in CNG driven modes of transport in Delhi

Measurements of noise and its spectral characteristics were made inside various types of transport running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel in Delhi. Noise indices L₁₀, L₅₀, L₉₀ and L_eq were estimated from the measured noise levels for vehicles in neutral gear, slow speed (speed ?20 km/h) and under free flow (speed ?30 km/h) conditions. It is found that background levels, when averaged over all speeds, are maximum in Rural Transport Vehicles (RTV) followed by Buses, Auto-rickshaws and Taxis. With increase in the speed, noise levels are appreciably enhanced except in the case of auto-rickshaws where the increase is moderate. The spectral distributions of noise inside vehicles obtained at 1-octave band frequencies, show a rather similar nature. The study reveals significantly lower noise levels inside CNG driven public modes of transport compared to those found in an earlier survey inside diesel and petrol driven vehicles.     

Nocturnal road traffic noise assessment and sleep research: The usefulness of different timeframes and in- and outdoor noise measurements

In this paper, we investigated the procedure of noise assessment in the study of nocturnal noise exposure during sleep in the home situation. The use of two different timeframes (fixed from 11 PM to 07 AM versus personal “Time in Bed” period) was explored as well as the relation between indoor and outdoor noise levels and between the actual and estimated noise levels. Noise recordings were performed inside and outside the bedroom of 24 subjects living in high density road traffic noise areas in the Brussels’ Capital Region during seven consecutive days. Indoor and outdoor noise indicators L_Aeq, L_Amax and individual noise events were analysed. Subjects completed a daily sleep log in which the Time in Bed period was assessed. The results indicate that, for outdoor noise assessment, the use of an average L_Aeq might not be sufficient to reflect well the noise levels during the sleep period. For indoor measurements, significant differences were found in the comparison between both timeframes (L_Aeq: T = 16; p < .001). Considering the relation between indoor and outdoor measurements, low correlations (r = .49; p < .001) were found even when the location of the bedroom as a mediating factor was accounted for (street side; r = .52; p < .001). Therefore, from our study, caution is needed when relying on outdoor noise measurements for the evaluation of sleep disturbances. Furthermore, one needs to be aware of the weak correspondence between indoor and outdoor noise levels in the discussion of what a harmonized noise indicator for the evaluation of noise exposure and sleep disturbances should consist of.     

Wind effects on noise propagation for complicated geographical and road configurations

Outdoor propagation from roads is influenced by wind, temperature and humidity. It is necessary to predict wind effects to simulate long-term environmental noise accurately. Noise levels have been measured in conjunction with wind speed and wind direction measurements. These noise levels showed noticeable daily changes. Excess attenuations of noise levels were found to depend on the vector wind (U_vec). By relating the vector wind and observed sound attenuations under all wind conditions, the influence of wind can be more accurately predicted for purposes of simulating noise propagation.     

A snapshot of young adults’ noise exposure reveals evidence of ‘Binge Listening’

There have been several previous studies into daily noise exposure levels in modern urban communities, which typically report mean noise exposure levels (L_Aeq) for adults between 73 and 79 dB. In this study, rather than focus on group mean exposures across a wide age range, individual patterns of noise exposure over 4- and 5-day periods were examined in a group of 45 young adults aged 18–35 years. The main objective of the study was to determine the extent to which young adults exhibit a ‘binge listening’ pattern of noise exposure, i.e., high weekend leisure noise vs. low weekday work noise exposure. A secondary objective was to identify the types of activities that generate the highest noise exposures. The results showed that although most participants (60%) were exposed to low daily noise levels, 33% of participants exhibited a ‘binge listening’ exposure pattern characterized by one or two high-noise days, usually a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, preceded or followed by much quieter days. The most notable high-noise activities were playing an instrument solo or in a band; attending a nightclub; and attending a pop concert, each of which recorded average noise levels greater than 100 dB. Future research is needed to determine whether ‘binge listening’ is more or less harmful than the chronic exposure presupposed in traditional risk models, however, under the equal-energy principle, repeated ‘binge’ noise exposures from weekend visits to nightclubs, live music events and other high-noise events represent a significant risk to long-term hearing health.