Effect of Attitudinal, Situational and Demographic Factors on Annoyance Due to Environmental Vibration and Noise from Construction of a Light Rapid Transit System.

Daniel Wong-Mcsweeney,Zbigniew Koziel,María Redel-Macías,Eulalia Peris,Andy Moorhouse,James Woodcock,David Waddington

doi:10.3390/ijerph13121237

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to determine what non-exposure factors influence the relationship between vibration and noise exposure from the construction of a Light Rapid Transit (LRT) system and the annoyance of nearby residents. Noise and vibration from construction sites are known to annoy residents, with annoyance increasing as a function of the magnitude of the vibration and noise. There is not a strong correlation between exposure and levels of annoyance suggesting that factors not directly related to the exposure may have an influence. A range of attitudinal, situational and demographic factors are investigated with the aim of understanding the wide variation in annoyance for a given vibration exposure. A face-to-face survey of residents (n = 350) near three sites of LRT construction was conducted, and responses were compared to semi-empirical estimates of the internal vibration within the buildings. It was found that annoyance responses due to vibration were strongly influenced by two attitudinal variables, concern about property damage and sensitivity to vibration. Age, ownership of the property and the visibility of the construction site were also important factors. Gender, time at home and expectation of future levels of vibration had much less influence. Due to the measurement methods used, it was not possible to separate out the effects of noise and vibration on annoyance; as such, this paper focusses on annoyance due to vibration exposure. This work concludes that for the most cost-effective reduction of the impact of construction vibration and noise on the annoyance felt by a community, policies should consider attitudinal factors.

Highlights

It has previously been reported that increases in noise and vibration exposure lead to increased levels of annoyance in residential environments [1,2,3,4,5]
Exposure explains less than 20% of variation [8,9], the remainder being explained by other factors, Int
The results show that as vibration exposure is increased, the concern that residents have for property damage increases, echoing the work of Peris et al [6] for railway vibration

Summary

Introduction

It has previously been reported that increases in noise and vibration exposure lead to increased levels of annoyance in residential environments [1,2,3,4,5]. The relationship between exposure and annoyance is, weak, suggesting that other factors need to be taken into account [6]. Baseline models of human responses to vibration have been established [7], and this paper is intended to extend these models by looking at the influence of mediating and moderating factors, referred to as non-exposure factors. While there are relatively few investigations into the factors influencing the annoyance due to vibration, there have been many for the annoyance of noise. Exposure explains less than 20% of variation [8,9], the remainder being explained by other factors, Int. J. Public Health 2016, 13, 1237; doi:10.3390/ijerph13121237 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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