Combined Effects of High-Speed Railway Noise and Ground Vibrations on Annoyance

Abstract

The Shinkansen super-express railway system in Japan has greatly increased its capacity and has expanded nationwide. However, many inhabitants in areas along the railways have been disturbed by noise and ground vibration from the trains. Additionally, the Shinkansen railway emits a higher level of ground vibration than conventional railways at the same noise level. These findings imply that building vibrations affect living environments as significantly as the associated noise. Therefore, it is imperative to quantify the effects of noise and vibration exposures on each annoyance under simultaneous exposure. We performed a secondary analysis using individual datasets of exposure and community response associated with Shinkansen railway noise and vibration. The data consisted of six socio-acoustic surveys, which were conducted separately over the last 20 years in Japan. Applying a logistic regression analysis to the datasets, we confirmed the combined effects of vibration/noise exposure on noise/vibration annoyance. Moreover, we proposed a representative relationship between noise and vibration exposures, and the prevalence of each annoyance associated with the Shinkansen railway.

Effects of Noise and Vibration Due to the Hokuriku Shinkansen Railway on the Living Environment: A Socio-Acoustic Survey One Year after the Opening

“…This finding is apparent from the multiple logistic regression analysis results, and the odds ratio for the residents in areas where there are no conventional lines was approximately five times higher than that in areas with a conventional line. The findings concerning the vibration effect are the same as those of Yano et al [4] and Yokoshima et al [7]. Yano et al [4] demonstrated that the general noise annoyance was higher along the Shinkansen railway than along the conventional railway for the same noise level.…”

“…They sought to capture community responses to the change in the elevated conventional railway running parallel to the Kyushu Shinkansen. Yokoshima et al [7] reanalyzed the data of six social surveys conducted in Japan from 1995 to 2013 on the Shinkansen railway and confirmed the combined effect of noise and vibration exposure on the annoyance level. They reported that noise annoyance in the low-vibration group was lower than that in the high-vibration group.…”

“…Therefore, those in which noise and vibration environments have been comprehensively assessed are necessary. Many social surveys have been conducted on community responses to Shinkansen railway noise and vibrations [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Tamura [2] indicated that Shinkansen railways were evaluated more negatively than conventional railways in areas where railway noise was a major factor in the sound environment.…”

Appreciative Methods Applied to the Assessment of Complex Systems

“…This is a nationwide transportation system in Japan and international catalyst interacting at many levels of hierarchy with multiple business, technical, social, cultural, political groups and organizations. (Straszak, 1981;Okada, 1994;Endo, 2003;Okamura, 2005;Tomii, 2010;Smith, R. A., 2014;Yokoshima, 2017;Asano, 2017) It has a robust and resilient architecture for reliable inter-city passenger transport. (Endo, 2003;Shimamura and Yamamura, 2006;Uda, 2010;Kato and Shinohara, 2013;Smith, R. A., 2014) It is heavily dependent upon minute to minute managerial competence due to its one-track paradigm.…”

Risks of Ear Complaints of Passengers and Drivers While Trains Are Passing Through Tunnels at High Speed: A Numerical Simulation and Experimental Study

“…Due to the interactions between air, rail and train, a wide variety of concerns have emerged relating to aerodynamic noise, resistance, environmental and public health issues [1,2]. However, the interactions intensify when high-speed trains pass through a tunnel.…”