Publication
Title
Acoustic simulation of noise barriers and prediction of annoyance for local residents
Author
Abstract
Road traffic is the most widespread environmental noise source in Europe, proven to affect human health and well-being adversely. Noise barriers can be a very effective way to objectively reduce the noise levels to which the population is exposed, leading to positive effects on noise perception and quality of life. In this paper, surveys were used to assess subjective noise level indicators (annoyance and quality of life) from residents of the vicinity of a highway where obsolete noise barriers were to be replaced. %HA before the barrier replacement was measured from the surveys (26.8%) and estimated based on the acoustic simulation and two existing exposure/response relationships (14.6 and 18.8% before and 13.6 and 8.3% after). The difference in the measured %HA to those calculated from the ERRs shows that those models might not estimate %HA fairly for small samples or particular situations where high Lden is reported. Noise annoyance correlated differently with the quality of life indicators: a weak link was observed with health problems, while a strong correlation was found with the comfort level to perform activities outdoors. Objective noise measurements gave LA,eq,(15 min.) reductions of 4.1dB(A) due to the new barrier, while in acoustics models, calculated as Lday, expected this reduction to be 5.2 dB(A). After replacing the noise barriers, a second survey could still not be distributed due to the unknown effect of the COVID-19 measures that are still active
Language
English
Source (book)
Proceedings of the 27th International Congress on Sound and Vibration, 11-16 July, 2021
Publication
Gliwice : Silesian University Press , 2021
ISBN
978-83-7880-799-5
Volume/pages
p. 1-8
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
VABB-SHW
Record
Identifier c:irua:181057
Creation 21.09.2021
Last edited 17.06.2024
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