INVESTIGATION AND MODELING OF TRANSPORT NOISE DEPENDENCE ON TRAFFIC SPEED AND IMPACT ON POPULATION ANNOYANCE

Tomas Vilniškis,Tomas Januševičius,Andrej Naimušin

doi:10.3846/jeelm.2022.16275

Tomas Vilniškis, Tomas Januševičius + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3846/jeelm.2022.16275

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Abstract

Transport noise is a serious problem in cities and has a negative impact on both health and economics. In addition to the aforementioned unnoticed health effects, traffic noise has also been identified as one of the leading causes of sleep disorders, annoyance and negative cardiovascular effects. This research consists of three parts: part one involves onsite measurements of traffic noise in Trakai town; part two simulates traffic noise at different average vehicle speeds; part three assesses the number of people affected by traffic noise. The carried-out simulation has demonstrated that the noise level changes very slightly at different average vehicle speeds. It should be noticed that more noise is generated at average vehicle speed of 30 km/h rather than at 50 km/h. The assessment of the annoyance level has disclosed that an average vehicle speed of 30 km/h should cause the highest level of annoyance (highest – 26.8%).

Highlights

Environmental noise is the sound produced by transport, industry or appropriate recreational activity at the levels exceeding the intensity of the background noise required for personal daily activities, rest and sleep
Epidemiological studies have disclosed that persistent exposure to the high levels of environmental noise increases the risk of circulatory system diseases such as myocardial infarction
At an average vehicle speed of 60 km/h, the noise level rises again and reaches very similar values as in the case of 30 km/h. It is supposed a running vehicle engine is the main source of noise in slow-moving vehicles because higher revolutions of the engine are observed at the slow motion of vehicles, which results in higher noise levels

Summary

Introduction

Environmental noise is the sound produced by transport, industry or appropriate recreational activity at the levels exceeding the intensity of the background noise required for personal daily activities, rest and sleep. Epidemiological studies have disclosed that persistent exposure to the high levels of environmental noise increases the risk of circulatory system diseases such as myocardial infarction. In this context, noise pollution is seen as an environmental protection problem and as a threat to public health. Noise damage to health is not limited to hearing loss. Under the influence of noise, physical and mental working capacity decreases by 10–25%, the speed of human hearing and visual sensorimotor reactions deteriorates, vibrational sensitivity and the coordination of movements become reduced and the risk of industrial injuries increases (Vilnius environment)

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