International comparison of Hong Kong response to road traffic noise

Abstract

The association between transport related noise and community response to that of exposure has been well documented. In order to develop a baseline data set for Hong Kong and enable international comparison, a household survey was conducted territory-wide in 2009-2010. The response rate was high of 75% and a total of 10,077 households were interviewed. Noise response was measured by an internationally standardised question on an 11-point numeric scale (ISO/TS 15666, 2003). Transformations were made to the data by means of the “Miedema approach” to allow for comparisons. Estimates of the percentages of highly annoyed (%HA) at the population level were plotted against Lden and compared with both Miedema's generalized curve derived from international data sets and those produced by Phan (2008) based on Vietnamese data. The Hong Kong curve lay considerably below that of Miedema, but was comparable with Phan's curves. Personal and contextual factors related to response were: noise sensitivity, window closing and home ownership. Factors reducing annoyance were: access to a quiet room in the dwelling, satisfaction with environmental circumstances in the immediate residential area and the number of households in the living quarters. These findings are well in line with those elsewhere.