Road Traffic Noise and Annoyance: A Quantification of the Effect of Quiet Side Exposure at Dwellings

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Yvonne de Kluizenaar¹  Sabine A. Janssen¹  Henk Vos¹  Erik M. Salomons¹  Han Zhou¹ 

[1] TNO, Department of Urban Environment and Safety, P.O. Box 49, Delft 2600 AA, The Netherlands; E-Mails:

关键词: road traffic noise;    environmental noise;    transmission modeling;    exposure assessment;    quiet side;    noise annoyance;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph10062258

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Previous studies indicate that residents may benefit from a “quiet side” to their dwellings. The influence of the level of road traffic noise exposure at the least exposed side on road traffic noise annoyance was studied in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Road traffic noise exposure was assessed at the most and least exposed façade (L_den,most and L_den,least respectively) of dwellings for subjects in a population based survey (N = 1,967). It was investigated if and to what extent relative quietness at the least exposed façade affected the level of road traffic noise annoyance by comparing two groups: (1) The subgroup with a relatively quiet façade; (2) the subgroup without a relatively quiet façade (large versus small difference in exposure between most and least exposed façade; DIF ≥ 10 dB and DIF < 10 dB respectively). In addition, it was investigated if and to what extent L_den,least affected the level of road traffic noise annoyance. Results indicate a significantly lower road traffic noise annoyance score at a given L_den,most, in the subgroup with DIF ≥ 10 dB versus DIF < 10 dB. Furthermore, results suggest an effect of L_den,least independent of L_den,most. The estimated size of the effect expressed in an equivalent change in L_den,most approximated 5 dB for both the difference between the two subgroups (DIF ≥ 10 dB and DIF < 10 dB), and for a 10 dB change in L_den,least.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.