Sleep Disturbance from Road Traffic, Railways, Airplanes and from Total Environmental Noise Levels in Montreal

Abstract The significant growth in traffic density in Slovakia, combined with the country’s economic change, has resulted in new environmental noise issues, particularly in road traffic noise. The objective of this study was to assess and evaluate the impact of environmental noise on the psychosocial well-being of young healthy individuals in the two main Slovak cities of Bratislava and Kosice. To assess noise annoyance, interference with activities, and sleep disturbance, the ICBEN (The International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise) anonymous validated “Noise annoyance questionnaire” was applied; noise levels were objectified by direct measurements using a sound level analyzer with a frequency analysis module. Young individuals between the ages of 20 and 30 were interviewed in Bratislava (533 respondents, 155 males) and Kosice (355 respondents, 111 males). The majority of the respondents in both cities were exposed to medium levels of road traffic noise LAeq ≥ 60 dB. In Bratislava, 27.82 % of respondents resided in the higher noise exposure category LAeq ≥ 70 dB, while in Kosice, 39.9 % resided in the lower noise exposure category LAeq < 50 dB. Road traffic noise annoys respondents in the higher noise exposure category in Bratislava 63.51 %, and even in the lower noise exposure category in Kosice, it interferes with reading and mental work, sleep and falling asleep 46.51 %. The study has identified traffic noise as an environmental issue in large cities, emphasizing the need for vulnerable individuals to be protected, particularly at night.

Download Full-text

Road Traffic Noise on the Santa Marta City Tourist Route

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11167196 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (16) ◽

pp. 7196

Author(s):

Dámaris A. Jiménez-Uribe ◽

Darwin Daniels ◽

Zoë L. Fleming ◽

Andrés M. Vélez-Pereira

Keyword(s):

Traffic Flow ◽

Noise Level ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Environmental Noise ◽

Time Of Day ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Sampling Point ◽

Heavy Vehicles ◽

Noise Levels

The objective of this study was to determine the influence of vehicular traffic on the environmental noise levels of the Santa Marta City tourist route on the Colombian coast. An analysis of vehicle types and frequencies at various times of the day over nearly a year helped to track the main sources of environmental noise pollution. Five sampling points were selected, which were distributed over 12 km, with three classified as peripheral urban and two as suburban. The average traffic flow was 966 vehicles/h and was mainly composed of automobiles, with higher values in the peripheral urban area. The noise level was 103.3 dBA, with background and peak levels of 87.2 and 107.3 dBA, respectively. The noise level was higher during the day; however, there were no differences between weekdays and weekends. The results from the analysis of variance showed that the number of vehicles and the noise levels varied greatly according to the time of day and sampling point location. The peak and mean noise levels were correlated with the number of automobiles, buses and heavy vehicles. The mean noise levels were similar at all sample points despite the traffic flow varying, and the background noise was only correlated for automobiles (which varied much more than the heavy vehicles between day and night).

Download Full-text

The Public Health Impact of Road-Traffic Noise in a Highly-Populated City, Republic of Korea: Annoyance and Sleep Disturbance

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su10082947 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 2947 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Taeho Park ◽

Minho Kim ◽

Chaemi Jang ◽

Taeryang Choung ◽

Kyung-A Sim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Sleep Disturbance ◽

Internal Combustion Engines ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Republic Of Korea ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Levels ◽

High Level ◽

The City

Sustainable transportation is an essential part of a sustainable city; however, modern transportation systems with internal-combustion engines emits unacceptably high level of air-pollutants and noise. It is recognized widely that road-traffic noise has negative health impacts (such as annoyance and sleep disturbance) on exposed population in highly-populated cities. These harmful effects should be removed or at least reduced to guarantee the sustainability of modern cities. The estimation of pollutant levels at a specific location and the extent of the damage is therefore important for policy makers. This study presents a procedure to determine the levels of road-traffic noise at both day and night, and an assessment of the adverse health effects across Gwangju Metropolitan City (GMC), Republic of Korea (ROK). Road-traffic noise maps in 2-D and 3-D were generated, in order to find spatial distribution of noise levels across the city and noise level at the façade of a building-floor, respectively. The adoption of existing assessment models for the highly-annoyed (%HA) and highly-sleep-disturbed (%HSD) leads to building-based estimation of the affected population and spatial distribution of the road networks of the city. Very high noise levels were found to exist along major roads in the day and at night, with little difference between them. As a result, approximately 10% and 5% of the total population (n = 1,471,944) were estimated to experience high-level annoyance and sleep disturbance, respectively.

Download Full-text

Annoyance from Road Traffic, Trains, Airplanes and from Total Environmental Noise Levels

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph13010090 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 90 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Martina Ragettli ◽

Sophie Goudreau ◽

Céline Plante ◽

Stéphane Perron ◽

Michel Fournier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Road Traffic ◽

Environmental Noise ◽

Noise Levels

Download Full-text

MODELLING URBAN NOISE IN CITYGML ADE: CASE OF THE NETHERLANDS

ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprs-annals-iv-4-w5-73-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol IV-4/W5 ◽

pp. 73-81 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

K. Kumar ◽

H. Ledoux ◽

T. J. F. Commandeur ◽

J. E. Stoter

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Input Data ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Environmental Noise ◽

Motor Vehicles ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Levels ◽

Noise Mapping ◽

Urban Noise

Road traffic and industrial noise has become a major source of discomfort and annoyance among the residents in urban areas. More than 44&thinsp;% of the EU population is regularly exposed to road traffic noise levels over 55 dB, which is currently the maximum accepted value prescribed by the Environmental Noise Directive for road traffic noise. With continuously increasing population and number of motor vehicles and industries, it is very unlikely to hope for noise levels to diminish in the near future. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor urban noise, so as to make mitigation plans and to deal with its adverse effects. The 2002/49/EC Environmental Noise Directive aims to determine the exposure of an individual to environmental noise through noise mapping. One of the most important steps in noise mapping is the creation of input data for simulation. At present, it is done semi-automatically (and sometimes even manually) by different companies in different ways and is very time consuming and can lead to errors in the data. In this paper, we present our approach for automatically creating input data for noise simulations. Secondly, we focus on using 3D city models for presenting the results of simulation for the noise arising from road traffic and industrial activities in urban areas. We implemented a few noise modelling standards for industrial and road traffic noise in CityGML by extending the existing Noise ADE with new objects and attributes. This research is a steping stone in the direction of standardising the input and output data for noise studies and for reconstructing the 3D data accordingly.

Download Full-text

The “sound of silence” in Granada during the COVID-19 lockdown

Noise Mapping ◽

10.1515/noise-2021-0002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 16-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jerónimo Vida Manzano ◽

José Antonio Almagro Pastor ◽

Rafael García Quesada ◽

Francesco Aletta ◽

Tin Oberman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Activity ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Environmental Noise ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Levels ◽

Noise Sources ◽

Comparison Results ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

Abstract Exceptional circumstances in the city of Granada due to the COVID-19 lockdown have provided the opportunity to characterise the impact of humans on its urban acoustic climate. Traditional environmental noise management and urban sound planning usually take into account noise sources in the city, such as industrial activities or road traffic noise, in model estimations, as well as in empirical research. But trying to isolate human impact by itself, human activity including social activity, walking, talking or just going around the city, has always been a difficult or even impossible task. The COVID-19 lockdown measures have provided the opportunity to study urban climate as never before, affected just by natural or animal noise sources. Previous soundscape research at some iconic sites in the city of Granada carried out in 2019 before the lockdown and a special measuring campaign carried out at the same locations during the lockdown in 2020 offered valuable information on sound levels and local characteristics in order to carry out this comparison. Results show a great change in environmental noise levels that is interesting not only because of its magnitude, but also for its implications, especially at those sites where social human activity was an identifying characteristic. Natural or animal sounds became surprisingly evident at some study sites, especially where road traffic noise dramatically decreased, leading to significantly lower background noise levels. Important spectral changes are observed before and during the lockdown, suggesting a shift from anthropic to animal sources in the acoustic environment.

Download Full-text

Strategic directions in implementation of environmental noise directive in international and national legislation

Facta universitatis - series Physics Chemistry and Technology ◽

10.2298/fupct0601021c ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 21-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

D. Cvetkovic ◽

M. Prascevic

Keyword(s):

Road Traffic ◽

Local Level ◽

Environmental Noise ◽

Green Paper ◽

Noise Levels ◽

Noise Emission ◽

Noise Sources ◽

Noise Mapping ◽

The Public

Until 1996, the noise policy in Europe had concentrated on the regulations of noise emission from noise sources as road traffic, aircraft and equipment used outdoors. Although noise limits have become increasingly stringent over the years, no corresponding significant reduction in noise emission has been observed. In response to this, the European noise policy has been revised to focus on noise reception. Thus, the Green Paper from 1996 defines as the basic aim of future noise policy that "no person should be exposed to noise levels which endanger health and quality of life". The structure of a new future noise policy has to be based on the Directive on the Assessment and Management of Environmental Noise, 2002/43/EC. The Directive defines the three key elements: assessment of environmental noise through strategic noise mapping, implementation of action plans to reduce noise where necessary and information for the public about noise levels and its effects. The Directive defines the common noise indicators and methods for strategic noise mapping as well as the deadline for the Directive implementation. The Directive implementation at national and local level means enacting the new acts or amending existing acts. In this paper, the proposal of steps that can be taken for harmonization of national acts with the basic principles and elements of the Directive is presented and discussed.

Download Full-text

Aggregate Impact of Anomalous Noise Events on the WASN-Based Computation of Road Traffic Noise Levels in Urban and Suburban Environments

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s20030609 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 609 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Francesc Alías ◽

Ferran Orga ◽

Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès ◽

Joan Claudi Socoró

Keyword(s):

Sensor Networks ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Pollution ◽

Environmental Noise ◽

Integration Time ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Levels ◽

Noise Mapping ◽

Acoustic Data

Environmental noise can be defined as the accumulation of noise pollution caused by sounds generated by outdoor human activities, Road Traffic Noise (RTN) being the main source in urban and suburban areas. To address the negative effects of environmental noise on public health, the European Environmental Noise Directive requires EU member states to tailor noise maps and define the corresponding action plans every five years for major agglomerations and key infrastructures. Noise maps have been hitherto created from expert-based measurements, after cleaning the recorded acoustic data of undesired acoustic events, or Anomalous Noise Events (ANEs). In recent years, Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks (WASNs) have become an alternative. However, most of the proposals focus on measuring global noise levels without taking into account the presence of ANEs. The LIFE DYNAMAP project has developed a WASN-based dynamic noise mapping system to analyze the acoustic impact of road infrastructures in real time based solely on RTN levels. After studying the bias caused by individual ANEs on the computation of the A-weighted equivalent noise levels through an expert-based dataset obtained before installing the sensor networks, this work evaluates the aggregate impact of the ANEs on the RTN measurements in a real-operation environment. To that effect, 304 h and 20 min of labeled acoustic data collected through the two WASNs deployed in both pilot areas have been analyzed, computing the individual and aggregate impacts of ANEs for each sensor location and impact range (low, medium and high) for a 5 min integration time. The study shows the regular occurrence of ANEs when monitoring RTN levels in both acoustic environments, which are especially common in the urban area. Moreover, the results reveal that the aggregate contribution of low- and medium-impact ANEs can become as critical as the presence of high-impact individual ANEs, thus highlighting the importance of their automatic removal to obtain reliable WASN-based RTN maps in real-operation environments.

Download Full-text

Road Traffic Noise Levels at Different Types of Residential Areas in Nibong Tebal, Penang

International Journal of Integrated Engineering ◽

10.30880/ijie.2019.11.01.013 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Herni Halim ◽

◽

Nur Fatin Najiyah Hamid ◽

Mohamad Firdaus Mahamad Yusob ◽

Nur Atiqah Mohamad Nor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Road Traffic ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Road Traffic Noise ◽

Residential Areas ◽

Noise Levels ◽

Different Types

Download Full-text

People exposed to traffic noise in european agglomerations from noise maps. A critical review

Noise Mapping ◽

10.2478/noise-2014-0005 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Miguel Arana ◽

Ricardo San Martin ◽

Juan C. Salinas

Keyword(s):

Road Traffic ◽

Noise Source ◽

Traffic Noise ◽

Noise Pollution ◽

Environmental Noise ◽

Action Plans ◽

Implementation Phase ◽

Pollution Levels ◽

Input Variables ◽

The Impact

AbstractTwo of the main objectives of the European Directive on environmental noise are, firstly, to unify acoustic indices for assessing environmental noise and, secondly, to standardize assessment methodologies. The ultimate goal is to objectively and comparably manage the impact and evolution of environmental noise caused both by urban agglomerations and by traffic infrastructures (roads, rails and airports). The use of common indices and methodologies (together with five-year plan assessment required by the authorities in charge) should show how noise pollution levels are evolving plus the effectiveness of corrective measures implemented in the action plans. In this paper, available results fromnumerous European agglomerations (with particular emphasis on Spanish agglomerations) are compared and analysed. The impact and its evolution are based on the percentage of people exposed to noise. More specifically, it demonstrates the impact caused by road traffic, which proves to be the main noise source in all agglomerations. In many cases, the results are extremely remarkable. In some case, the results are illogical. For such cases, it can be concluded that either assessment methodologies have been signifi- cantly amended or the input variables to the calculation programs have been remarkably changed. The uncertainty associated with the results is such that, in our opinion, no conclusions can be drawn concerning the effectiveness of remedial measures designed within the action plans after the Directive’s first implementation Phase.

Download Full-text