School-reopening impact on traffic-induced noise level at different land uses: a case study

Abstract

Reopening of schools is usually associated with increased urban traffic and is likely to exacerbate traffic-induced noise level in metropolitan cities. This study was performed to investigate the role of reopening of schools on noise level in one of the most crowded districts of Tehran City. For this, two different noise criteria of LAeq10min and SPL were measured during working days at three occasions of morning, noon, and evening in summer (school holiday season) and autumn (reopening season of schools in Iran). According to the results, the average equivalent sound pressure level was 72.3 dB(A) in summer and 72.9 dB(A) in autumn. The P value of 0.44 obtained from t test indicated that there is no significant difference between the equivalent sound pressure level of the holiday and reopening seasons in the district. Further, the value of the indices Traffic Noise Index, Noise Impact Index, and noise pollution level was constant within both seasons studied. This may be due to the rigid surface of the passages such as asphalt pavement, and high-rise buildings, as well as the facade of buildings that can gradually overshadow the role of school-induced traffic on noise pollution in metropolitan cities.