On the need for context‐sensitive noise impact criteria in rural communities.

Abstract

With the growing population, infrastructure elements previously the exclusive province of urban and suburban communities are pushing their way into rural settings. In their wake comes increased noise nuisance and the need for context‐sensitive community noise standards and guidelines. Major differences between urban and rural soundscapes make difficult the stretching of urban guidelines into rurality. Urban noise impact considerations are typically those of minimally increasing the pre‐existing anthropogenic din; rural considerations center on maintaining the absence of din altogether. Most quantitative community noise standards are loudness based, comparing source loudness with that of the ambient. However, the desires of rural communities suggest that an audibility‐based metric would better suit their needs. Current noise standards explicitly considering rural areas do so by recognizing the lower ambient sound levels in rural areas but still relying on loudness‐based metrics. Thus, the need exists to ex...