Construction noise management: A systematic review and directions for future research

Abstract

Construction noise is one of the most important and prevalent occupational hazards in the construction industry. The negative effects of construction noise can be mitigated by implementing an efficient noise management process during pre-construction and construction stages. Current research themes in the area of construction noise management are fragmented and there is a need for a comprehensive review that directly explores the noise management process and its application in the construction industry in order to identify research themes and their major achievements, reveal limitations and gaps in the literature, and recommend avenues for future research. This study proposes a new construction noise management framework and categorizes the previous studies conducted in the area of construction noise management. The framework introduces four main steps for construction noise management including noise assessment, noise prediction, noise control and noise monitoring. Then, content analysis is conducted for the previous studies under the four identified noise management steps. The major contribution of this review lies on providing researchers and practitioners with a holistic understanding of the construction noise management process to improve workplace health and safety in construction sites and surrounding areas.