Designing community surveys to provide a basis for noise policy

Abstract

Social surveys of human response to noise will make a greater contribution to noise abatement policy if the surveys give special attention to selected aspects of three types of study variables: physical noise characteristics, subjective human responses, and nonacoustical neighborhood characteristics. A re-analysis of several surveys shows that better estimates of the effects of noise characteristics (time of day, ambient levels, noise, and number tradeoff) require that (1) the precision of the noise measurements is specified. (2) sufficient independence of the study variables is insured by the sample design, and (3) the precision of the social survey estimates is increased by better sample and data collection designs. Surveys can provide better information about human response if questionnaires (1) share core annoyance questions between surveys, (2) include more meaningful indicators of human impact, and (3) ascertain public opinion about alternative noise control policies. An analysis of the effect of nonacoustical neighborhood characteristics shows that such local variables provide useful information for public policy when they are based on the reports of trained observers rather than on the subjective impressions of the social survey's respondents.