The effect of road traffic noise on house prices

Existing U.K. legislation compensates home owners for house price depreciation due to increases in environmental noise caused by public works. Several previous studies have been attempted to show the effects of noise on house prices but have been inconclusive because of a failure to meet basic requirements for a rigorous analysis. In this paper these requirements are discussed and a study designed to fulfil them based on the southern Ontario housing market is described. Data on 2277 individual housing transactions at 51 sites close to major roadways were analyzed to determine the effects of road traffic noise on house prices. Results show that noise has a significant and consistent effect equal to approximately $254 per decibel depreciation at the arterial sites examined and $312 per decibel depreciation at the expressway sites.     

Effect of traffic noise on the cyclical nature of sleep

Sleep changes from shallow to deep and back again in a cyclical manner with a period of around 90 min. The sleep of 12 subjects, each sleeping for 24 nights, was monitored by EEG. The results indicate that the cyclical nature may be somewhat disturbed by continuous free-flowing traffic noise, at a level of 60 dB, if, for instance, waking is always considered as the end of one cycle. However, if a cycle is judged from a bird's-eye view of the sleep record, then it appears that the average subject persists in his normal cycle and the effect of noise is negligible. But individual differences are great and may even be in opposite directions [G. J. Thiessen and A.C. Lapointe, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 64, 1078-1080 (1978)], which may result in obscuring real effects when data are averaged over a number of individuals. Defining a "sleep cycle" is of importance in view of reports [M. Herbert and R.T. Wilkinson, Proc. of Congress on Biological Effects on Noise, Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia (1973)] that the disturbance of the sleep rhythm has an effect on performance during the following day.     

Long term sleep disturbance due to traffic noise

This contribution to the evaluation of the effects of traffic noise on sleep disturbance is focused on the responses of people living near a main road. Experiments were carried out in the homes of subjects who had habitually been exposed to noise for periods of more than four years. The chronic changes in overall sleep patterns and the temporary sleep responses to particular noise events caused by traffic are demonstrated. Young people show mainly stage 3 and 4 deficits whilst older people show REM sleep deficits. The cardiac response to noise during sleep was also examined. These results highlight that both long term average and peak levels are important in assessing sleep disturbance. The threshold levels, measured inside the bedroom and above which sleep quality starts to become impaired, are 37 L_eq(A) and 45 dB (A)L_{p max}, respectively. For the type of traffic studied these two levels are coherent and it is therefore possible that a single noise index, L_eq(A), is sufficient to scale sleep disturbance.     

Practical guidance for risk assessment of traffic noise effects on sleep

Environmental noise disturbs sleep and may impair well-being, performance and health. The European Union Directive 2002/49/EC (END) requires member states to generate noise maps and action plans to mitigate traffic noise effects on the population. However, practical guidance for the generation of action plans, i.e. for assessing the effects of traffic noise on sleep, is missing. Based on the current literature, we provide guidance on hazard identification, exposure assessment, exposure-response relationships and risk estimation: there is currently no consensus on both exposure and outcome variables that describe traffic noise effects on sleep most adequately. END suggests the equivalent noise level L_night as the primary exposure variable, and our own simulations of single nights with up to 200 noise events based on a field study on the effects of aircraft noise on sleep support using expert consensus L_night ranges (<30, 30-40, 40-55, >55 dB) for risk assessment. However, the precision of risk assessment may be considerably improved by adding information on the number of noise events contributing to L_night. The calculation of L_night should be extended to the shoulder hours of the day if traffic is busy during these periods. More data are needed on the combined effects of different traffic modes.     

The effects of long-term exposure to railway and road traffic noise on subjective sleep disturbance

The exposure-response relationships between subjective annoyance with sleep disturbance from railway trains and road traffic noise were established from an extensive social survey by CENVR (Center for Environmental Noise and Vibration Research) in Korea. The objectives of this research are to determine the long-term effects of noise on sleep and to compare the exposure-response relationships from different noise sources with those from other studies and to elucidate the effects of some modifying factors on subjective responses to noise. From an investigation of the percentage of a highly sleep-disturbed population (%HSD) in response to railway and road traffic noise, it was found that sleep is affected more by railway noise than by road traffic noise. The effects of non-acoustical factors on the responses were examined and sensitivity was shown to be a significant modifying factor, as it pertains to subjective sleep disturbance. A comparison of the response curves from an analysis of pooled data from predominantly European surveys by Miedema and Vos [Behav. Sleep Med. 5, 1-20 (2007)] with the response curves from this survey showed more of a subjective sleep disturbance response in this survey to railway noise, whereas there was no significant difference in terms of a response to road traffic noise.     

Effect of continuous traffic noise on percentage of deep sleep, waking, and sleep latency

When subjected to alternating quiet nights (32 dB) and noise nights (equivalent levels of 47 dB) a group of 14 subjects showed an average increase in the fraction of deep sleep of about 2.5% resulting from the traffic noise. Another group of 12 subjects whose noise nights were at 60 dB had an average of 4.6% increase in deep sleep during these nights. The number of wakings also increased for both groups but, as was found before, this adapted rapidly with the number of nights. The average latency of sleep onset does not appear to be affected by the traffic noise but individual differences are great and may be of opposite sign. Latency of sleep onset and waking both show appreciable "laboratory effect" which takes longer to disappear than the one or two nights usually assumed.     

The effect of the number of aircraft noise events on sleep quality

BackgroundBoth the WHO and the EC recommend the use of L_night as the primary indicator for sleep disturbance. Still, a key question for noise policy is whether the prediction of sleep quality could be improved by taking the number of events into account in addition to L_night.ObjectivesThe current paper investigates the association between sleep quality and the number of aircraft noise events. The first aim of this study was to investigate whether, for the purpose of predicting sleep quality measured by motility, the nummer of events is adequately represented in L_night for the purpose of predicting sleep quality measured by motility. The second aim was to investigate whether the number of events at a given L_night has an additional predictive value. In addition, it was explored whether the total number of events should be taken into account for the production of sleep quality, or only the number of events exceeding a certain sound pressure level.MethodsThis study is based on data of a field study among 418 people living within a range of 20 km from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. The data from this study are well suited for this purpose, since for every subject both the number and the exposure level of events are available. Sleep quality was measured by motility, derived from actimeters worn on the wrist, and by self-reported sleep quality scored on a 11-point scale. Mixed linear regression models were built in a stepwise manner to predict sleep quality during a sleep period time.ResultsThe results show that, given a certain equivalent noise level, additional information on the overall number of events does not improve the prediction of sleep quality. However, the number of events above L_Amax of 60 dB was related to an increase in mean motility, indicating lower sleep quality. No effect of number of events was found on self-reported sleep quality.ConclusionsThis study suggests that the number of events is more or less adequately represented in L_night and only the number of high noise level events may have additional effects on sleep quality as measured by motility. This may be viewed as an indication that, in addition to L_night, the number of events with a relatively high L_Amax could be used as a basis for protection against noise-induced sleep disturbance.     

Vowel perception by noise masked normal-hearing young adults

This study examined vowel perception by young normal-hearing (YNH) adults, in various listening conditions designed to simulate mild-to-moderate sloping sensorineural hearing loss. YNH listeners were individually age- and gender-matched to young hearing-impaired (YHI) listeners tested in a previous study [Richie et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 114, 2923-2933 (2003)]. YNH listeners were tested in three conditions designed to create equal audibility with the YHI listeners; a low signal level with and without a simulated hearing loss, and a high signal level with a simulated hearing loss. Listeners discriminated changes in synthetic vowel tokens /I e epsilon alpha ae/ when Fl or F2 varied in frequency. Comparison of YNH with YHI results failed to reveal significant differences between groups in terms of performance on vowel discrimination, in conditions of similar audibility by using both noise masking to elevate the hearing thresholds of the YNH and applying frequency-specific gain to the YHI listeners. Further, analysis of learning curves suggests that while the YHI listeners completed an average of 46% more test blocks than YNH listeners, the YHI achieved a level of discrimination similar to that of the YNH within the same number of blocks. Apparently, when age and gender are closely matched between young hearing-impaired and normal-hearing adults, performance on vowel tasks may be explained by audibility alone.     

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.     

A field study of effects of road traffic and railway noise on polysomnographic sleep parameters

The aim of this study was to explore and compare the effect of noise from railway and road traffic on sleep in subjects habitually exposed to nocturnal noise. Forty young and middle aged healthy subjects were studied with polysomnography (PSG) during two consecutive nights in their own bedroom. Noise measurements and recordings were conducted concurrently outside of the bedroom fac?ade as well as inside the bedroom of each participant. Different noise exposure parameters were calculated (L(p,A,eq,night), L(p,A,Fmax,night), and L(AF5,night)) and analyzed in relation to whole-night sleep parameters. The group exposed to railway noise had significantly less Rapid eye movement, (REM) sleep than the group exposed to road traffic noise. A significant association was found between the maximum level (L(p,A,Fmax,night)) of railway noise and time spent in REM sleep. REM sleep was significantly shorter in the group exposed to at least a single railway noise event above 50 dB inside the bedroom. These results, obtained in an ecological valid setting, support previous laboratory findings that railway noise has a stronger impact than road traffic noise on physiological parameters during sleep, and that the maximum noise level is an important predictor of noise effects on sleep assessed by PSG, at least for railway noise.     

The distribution of headways in traffic noise simulation

In recent years researchers in jet turbulence and jet noise have become increasingly interested in what is termed “large scale coherent jet structures”. There is now considerable evidence that azimuthally coherent structures can be generated by acoustically forcing a jet from upstream. However, the evidence for such structures in unforced jets, except close to the nozzle at low Reynolds numbers, is, at best, circumstantial. The role of such structures in subsonic jet noise production is also completely unproven. In an attempt to establish a link between azimuthally coherent structures and the jet noise field a number of experimenters have recently made azimuthal cross-correlation measurements of either the near field pressure or far field noise, and used the observed coherence to infer the existence of an azimuthally coherent source field. The term azimuthally coherent is used here to infer that the source region is dominated by low order azimuthal components, with relatively little contribution coming from the higher azimuthal components. The purpose of this paper is to question the interpretation of that data. Specifically the sound field generated by a simple ring source with various types of azimuthal coherence is considered theoretically. It is shown that the azimuthal coherence of both the near and far field pressures is principally a function of the Helmholtz number and in many cases of practical interest is relatively insensitive to any coherent structure of the source.     

The effect of linguistic entropy on speech perception in noise in young and elderly listeners.

The rationale for a method to quantify the information content of linguistic stimuli, i.e., the linguistic entropy, is developed. The method is an adapted version of the letter-guessing procedure originally devised by Shannon [Bell Syst. Tech. J. 30, 50-64 (1951)]. It is applied to sentences included in a widely used test to measure speech-reception thresholds and originally selected to be approximately equally redundant. Results of a first experiment reveal that this method enables one to detect subtle differences between sentences and sentence lists with respect to linguistic entropy. Results of a second experiment show that (1) in young listeners and with the sentences employed, manipulating linguistic entropy can result in an effect on SRT of approximately 4 dB in terms of signal-to-noise ratio; (2) the range of this effect is approximately the same in elderly listeners.     

交通噪声对中小学生课堂行为的影响

一些调查结果表明,城市中的中小学校受环境噪声的干扰严重,尤其是交通噪声。我们对不同噪声级(40至70dBA)下学生课堂行为作了一系列的心理学实验,和汉语清晰度测验。所得结果经单因子方差分析和t检验来考核(用高级统计软件RDAS)不同结果之间差异的显著性,从而可得出当噪声级L_eq超过50dBA,或是L₁₀>55dBA,L₅₀>50dBA时,学生课堂行为会出现显著性差异(P<0.05)。另外还利用RBAS软件进行了皮尔逊(简单)相关分析,了解到上述心理学实验各作业指标之间的相关性并不很大,说明大部分作业不能相互替代,选择这些作业是必要的。本研究结果表明,教室内最大容许噪声级定为L₁₀=55dBA,L₅₀=50dBA是合适的。     

Laboratory studies on traffic noise annoyance

A laboratory study was undertaken to investigate the relation between traffic noise and annoyance with special reference to the number of noisy events. Students were exposed to different noise conditions for 45 and 120 minutes whereafter their reactions were assessed using a questionnaire. The extent of annoyance was found to increase with augmenting L_Aq levels but only when the number of noisy events remained equal. At equal L_Aq levels an increased extent of annoyance was found when the number of noisy events increased from 1 to 15 per hour. The results point to certain limitations in the validity of the equal energy concept and to the usefulness of laboratory studies to investigate reactions to environmental noise.     

Honking noise corrections for traffic noise prediction models in heterogeneous traffic conditions like India

In developing countries like India, the nature of the composition of traffic is heterogeneous. A heterogeneous traffic flow consists of vehicles that have different sizes, speeds, vehicle spacing and operating characteristics. As a result of the widely varying speeds, vehicular dimensions, lack of lane disciplines, honking becomes inevitable. In addition, it changes the urban soundscape of developing countries. In heterogeneous traffic conditions, horn events increase noise level (L_den) by 0.5–13 dB(A) as compared to homogenous traffic conditions. Therefore, the traffic prediction models that are used for homogenous traffic conditions are not applicable in heterogeneous traffic conditions. To increase the accuracy of noise prediction models, in depth understanding of heterogeneous traffic noise is required. Understanding the real traffic noise characteristics requires quantification of some of the basic traffic flow characteristics such as speed, flow, Level Of Service (LOS) and density. In a given roadway, the noise level changes with density and LOS on the road. In this paper, a new factor for horn correction is introduced with respect of Level Of Service (LOS). The horn correction values can be incorporated in traffic noise models such as CRTN, FHWA, and RLS 90, while evaluating heterogeneous traffic conditions.