The influence of traffic flow dynamics on urban soundscapes

Coensel, Bert De; Muer, Tom De; Yperman, I; Botteldooren, Dick

doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2004.07.012

Cited by 91 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…9 Exposure to environmental noise from traffic-related sources is reportedly the most annoying of all urban pollution types, 10 interfering with enjoyment of daily activities and largely affecting sleep and rest patterns. [10][11][12] In a recent Canadian survey, 20-28 % of urban populations attributed noise from road traffic to disruptions during sleep, conversation, and communication tasks such as reading and writing. 13 Few studies have conducted field measurements to assess levels of environmental noise in Canadian cities; furthermore, it is still unknown whether recent trends towards the intensification of urban development will impact environmental noise levels and in turn population health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise Levels Associated with Urban Land Use

et al. 2012

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Recent trends towards the intensification of urban development to increase urban densities and avoid sprawl should be accompanied by research into the potential for related health impacts from environmental exposure. The objective of the current study was to examine the effect of the built environment and land use on levels of environmental noise. Two different study areas were selected using a combination of small area census geography, land use information, air photography, and groundtruthing. The first study area represented residential land use and consisted of two-to three-story single-family homes. The second study area was characteristic of mixed-use urban planning with apartment buildings as well as commercial and institutional development. Study areas were subdivided into six grids, and a location was randomly selected within each grid for noise monitoring. Each location was sampled four times over a 24-h day, resulting in a total of 24 samples for each of the two areas. Results showed significant variability in noise within study areas and significantly higher levels of environmental noise in the mixed-use area. Both study areas exceeded recommended noise limits when evaluated against World Health Organization guidelines and yielded average noise events values in the moderate to serious annoyance range with the potential to obscure normal conversation and cause sleep disturbance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise Levels Associated with Urban Land Use

et al. 2012

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“…The proposed approach for predicting the traffic noise level time history near roadways is similar in structure to other dynamic traffic noise prediction models [22,23], and consists of coupling a microscopic road traffic simulation model with a model for instantaneous vehicle noise emission and a point-to-point sound propagation model. A general overview of the model is shown in Figure 1.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A number of traffic noise models have been developed in the past that are suited for predicting the time history of the sound level arising from a traffic stream. Examples are the models developed at INRETS [21,22], at Ghent University [23,24] and at EPFL [25]. These models predict the instantaneous contribution of single vehicles to the sound level at a receiver location over time, and account for dynamic effects of vehicular traffic, such as the excess noise emission due to acceleration of vehicles (although limitations still exist because of the relative scarcity of measurement data on emissions during acceleration, and because of the limited accuracy of the estimated traffic variables, in particular acceleration, within dynamic traffic models).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A road traffic noise pattern simulation model that includes distributions of vehicle sound power levels

Coensel¹,

Brown²,

Tomerini³

2016

Applied Acoustics

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Annoyance, sleep disturbance and other health effects of road traffic noise exposure may be related to both level and number of noise events caused by traffic, not just to energy equivalent measures of exposure. Dynamic traffic noise prediction models that include instantaneous vehicle noise emissions can be used to estimate either of these measures. However, current state-of-the-art vehicle noise emission models typically consider a single emission law for each vehicle category, whereas measurements show that the variation in noise emission between vehicles within the same category can be considerable. It is essential that the influence of vehicles that are producing significantly more (or less) noise than the average vehicle are taken into account in modelling in order to correctly predict the levels and frequency of occurrence of road traffic noise events, and in particular to calculate indicators that characterize these noise events. Here, an approach for predicting instantaneous sound levels caused by road traffic is presented, which takes into account measured distributions of sound power levels produced by individual vehicles. For the setting of a receiver adjacent to a dual-lane road carrying free flow traffic, the effect of this approach on estimated percentile levels and sound event indicators is investigated. • The software is freely available as a Python plugin to the Aimsun microscopic traffic simulator.• Simulations show that this refined approach affects estimated percentile sound levels by up to 4 dB.• The influence of the approach on indicators for the number of noise events is illustrated.

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“…3. A comparative cumulative frequency of the levels of LAeq at each 15-min interval over the daytime (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17) and the nighttime (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) in the 16 surveyed hospital lobbies.…”

Section: Noise Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing Subjective Noisiness in Hospital Lobbies

Chen¹

2015

Archives of Acoustics

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The present study was conducted in the lobbies of 16 Taiwanese urban hospitals to establish what contributes to the degree of noisiness experienced by patients and those accompanying them. Noise level measurements were then conducted by 15 min equivalent sound pressure levels (LAeq, 15 m, dB) during daytime hours. The average LAeq itself was found to be poorly related to perceived noisiness. Levels variations were better correlated, more continual noise may actually be perceived as noisier. According to the findings of a multiple linear stepwise regression model (r = 0.91, R 2 = 0.83), the 3 independent variables shown to have the largest effects on perceived noisiness were 1) 1/(L5 −L95), 2) effective duration of the normalized autocorrelation function (τe, h), of all LAeq, 15 m over 9-17, and 3) percentile loudness, N5, 15 m. These results resemble previous studies that had assumed that a larger fluctuation of noise level corresponds to less annoyance experienced for mixed traffic noise studied in a laboratory situation. As an advanced approach, for hospital noise that consisted of 12 audible noise events, subjective noisiness were evaluated by the noise time structure analyzed by autocorrelation with loudness and levels variation.

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The influence of traffic flow dynamics on urban soundscapes

Cited by 91 publications

References 28 publications

Noise Levels Associated with Urban Land Use

Noise Levels Associated with Urban Land Use

A road traffic noise pattern simulation model that includes distributions of vehicle sound power levels

Characterizing Subjective Noisiness in Hospital Lobbies

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