The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2004 · 120 citations · 9 references
Health ProfessionsCivil EngineeringAir PollutionBuilding PhysicsPsychoacousticsNoiseNoise ExposureNoise MeasurementNoise PollutionOccupational Noise ExposureExposure ScienceNoise AnnoyanceNoise Annoyance AssessmentNoise AssessmentNoise Source CharacterizationNoise SourcesRoad Traffic NoiseTraffic Noise Exposure
Previous studies have linked noise exposure from single sources such as aircraft, road traffic, or railways to annoyance, and similar relationships have been examined for stationary sources. The study presents an annoyance‑equivalents model for combined noise sources and its underlying assumptions. The model converts each source’s noise into an equivalent road‑traffic level, sums them to obtain a total level L, and applies the road‑traffic exposure‑annoyance relationship, assuming independent source contributions and outlining a five‑step practical procedure. The model’s independence assumption is largely valid except for the presence or absence of a building’s quiet side, and the step‑by‑step procedure enables practical assessment of total noise level and annoyance from DNL or DENL values.
Relationships between exposure to noise [metric: day-night level (DNL) or day-evening-night level (DENL)] from a single source (aircraft, road traffic, or railways) and annoyance based on a large international dataset have been published earlier. Also for stationary sources relationships have been assessed. Here the annoyance equivalents model concerning noise annoyance from combined sources and the underlying assumptions are presented. The model first translates the noise from the individual sources into the equally annoying sound levels of a reference source, road traffic, and then sums these levels giving total level L. The annoyance from the combined sources is found by substituting exposure L in the road traffic exposure-annoyance relationship. The most important assumption, independence of the contributions of the sources, is discussed. It appears that independence will be violated substantially only due to the effect of the presence or absence of a quiet side of a building, which is not incorporated in the model. For use in practice, the application of the model is broken down in five steps. The step by step procedure can be used for the assessment of the total noise level and the associated total annoyance on the basis of the DNL or DENL values of the individual sources.
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