Method for Measuring Vehicle Noise Source Heights and Subsource Spectra

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Transportation in cooperation with FHWA and several state transportation agencies is collecting a highway noise database for the development of noise-level regression equations. These data and equations will provide the foundation for the new traffic noise software, TNS. In addition to collecting reference energy mean emission level data, this test plan also requires an extensive database of source heights and subsource spectra covering all vehicle classes and possible roadway parameters. A description is provided of a turnkey rapid data acquisition and analysis system that was developed to collect a large database of vehicle noise source heights and subsource spectra for subsequent incorporation into TNS. Included is a summary of the analysis algorithm used to calculate the source heights, a description of the data collection system, and a brief summary of the data collected to date.