Traffic noise as a filtered Markov renewal process

Abstract

Traffic noise depends significantly on statistical properties of highway flow. The noise heard by an off-highway observer is the sum of the contributions of all the vehicles on the highway. We assume that vehicle spacings on a single-lane infinite straight road form a Markov renewal process (MRP) with N states or vehicle types. The noise impact is then a two-sided filtered MRP. We give explicit formulae for the mean and variance in the case N = 2 and exponential headways. Jewell's (1965) study (cars vs. trucks in the southbound curb lane of U.S. 40) gives parameters of the MPR for a numerical example. Even with only a modest degree of truck clustering and variability in vehicle spacings and noise emission, the variation in noise level is much greater than usually predicted. The coefficient of variation of arithmetic noise intensity is greater than unity at distances from the roadway less than 700 feet. The logarithmic noise level parameters L50 and L10 usually computed in engineering practice may be in error by 2 to 3 decibels if these sources of variability are ignored.