The effects of site selected variables on human responses to traffic noise, part I: Type of housing by traffic noise level

Abstract

The results of the first part of a field study of human response to traffice noise are reported, along with the general methodology of the entire study. The research was carried out by carefully selecting subjects at sites that had the desired values of selected site variables. Human response measurements were obtained from interviewer administered structured questionnaires, and were as spatially and temporally coincident as possible with the noise measurements. Noise measurements were obtained from six days of rapidly sampled recordings. In this first part the effects of traffic noise level and housing type were considered. Although traffic noise level was the major correlate of the intensity of negative responses to traffic noise, traffic noise level by housing type interaction effects were also observed and were attributed to the accuracy of perceiving the vehicle flow rate and day-night noise level differences. Spontaneous responses supported the validity of the elicited responses.