Community Annoyance Research Articles

CargoVibes: human response to vibration due to freight rail traffic

The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the research concerning human response to vibration conducted in the EU FP7 CargoVibes project. The European Union-funded project CargoVibes involved 10 partners from 8 nations and ran from April 2011 to April 2014. The project was concerned with railway-induced ground-borne vibration affecting residents close to freight lines, with one work package that investigated human response to vibration, including sleep disturbance, community annoyance and the production of a best practice guide for evaluating response. Laboratory trials at the University of Gothenburg were used to measure the effects of vibration on sleep. Physiological and psychological impacts of vibration exposure were found. TNO led a meta-analysis (N = 4129) to determine exposure–response relationships for railway vibration, with existing data for community response supplemented with field studies in the Netherlands and Poland. The University of Salford led production of a guidance document that presents the state of the art regarding vibration measurement and assessment. Specific topics in the guide include human perception, evaluation methods, annoyance, sleep impacts and non-exposure factors. The outcomes presented in this paper represent a significant advance in the understanding of the human response to railway vibration and a step towards much needed harmonization of assessment methods.

Choosing noise dose bin widths when modeling community response to noise

While there are many studies on how communities respond to noise, there are few that explicitly define how the noise dose, used to fit community response models, are binned. When modeling the dose response relationship between noise and community annoyance, the choice of the noise bin width can drastically affect the community response or tolerance models fit to the data. To explore the optimal noise bin width, we fit various dose response models to bin widths between 1 and 10 dB and data that had been divided into bins of varying widths but an equal number of points in each bin. Additionally, we fit the models using a weighted regression procedure that weights each bin by its number of points, and find that this approach mitigates the modeling errors implicit to the (often arbitrary) noise bin width decision.

Effects of indoor rattle sounds on annoyance caused by sonic booms.

To expand national air transportation capabilities, NASA's Commercial Supersonic Technology Project is working to make supersonic flight practical for commercial passengers. As an aid in designing and certifying quiet supersonic aircraft, a noise metric is sought that will correspond to indoor annoyance caused by sonic booms, including the effects of indoor rattle sounds. This study examines how well several common aircraft noise metrics predict indoor annoyance based on the indoor and outdoor sound fields. The results suggest notional community annoyance models that include the effects of indoor rattle sounds.

Effects of acoustic characteristics on annoyance of aircraft flyover noise

Aircraft flyover noise is a major source of community annoyance. The annoyance is affected by acoustic characteristics including onset rate, peak sound level and duration time. A simulated annoyance test was conducted on 30 subjects to analyze the effects from the three acoustic characteristics on annoyance. Results have shown that onset rate and duration time significantly determined annoyance while peak level had little effect. According to the importance of the exposure time, time above 75 dB was used as a new metric to illustrate the integral effects of onset rate and duration time. The curve of time above 75 dB was well fitted to an exponential-decrease equation which follows the sensory adaptation effect.

Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health: An ICBEN perspective

Noise is pervasive in everyday life and induces both auditory and non-auditory health effects. Noise-induced hearing loss remains the most common occupational disease in the United States, but is also increasingly caused by social noise exposure (e.g., through music players). Simultaneously, evidence on the public health impact of non-auditory effects of environmental noise exposure is growing. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ca. 1.6 Million healthy life years (DALYs) are lost annually in the western member states of the European Union due to exposure to environmental noise. The majority (>90%) of these effects can be attributed to noise-induced sleep disturbance and community annoyance, but noise may also interfere with communication and lead to cognitive impairment of children. Epidemiological studies increasingly support an association of long-term noise exposure with the incidence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Up-to-date exposure-response relationships are needed for health impact assessments, to reassess the validity of current noise policy and to better mitigate the negative health consequences of noise. The International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) is a non-profit organization constituted 1978 that promotes all aspects of noise effects research and its application through International Noise Teams and an International Congress every three years.

Determining tolerance to odour annoyance in communities near hog operations.

Quantifying the impact of odour from livestock facilities has been a challenge to researchers and environmental regulators. Physical and sensory odour attributes are commonly used to define the odour impact. However, people’s responses (tolerances) to odour may be affected by many other nonphysical factors. The objective of this study was to determine odour impact in broader scopes and domains by considering such factors as quality of life and community values. Face-to-face survey interviews were conducted in five communities to assess the residents’ responses to odour from hog operations. Based on the interview data, odour annoyance to residents was quantified and their tolerance to odour was determined. It was found that the annoyance at hog odour was greater than at other odour sources. Some residents (13%) would not tolerate hog odour even if they indicated that they were not annoyed by odour. On the opposite side, about 13% of residents would tolerate hog odour even if they indicated the highest annoyance level (10). Residents living in the rural areas were more tolerant of hog odour if the odour sources (hog operations) had previously been in existence. Very few (

Evaluation of the effect of aircraft size on indoor annoyance caused by sonic booms

Sonic booms from recently proposed supersonic aircraft designs developed with advanced tools are predicted to be quieter than those from previous designs. The possibility of developing a low-boom flight demonstration vehicle for conducting community response studies has attracted international interest. These studies would provide data to guide development of a preliminary noise certification standard for commercial supersonic aircraft. An affordable approach to conducting these studies suggests the use of a sub-scale experimental aircraft. Due to the smaller size and weight of the sub-scale vehicle, the resulting sonic boom is expected to contain spectral characteristics that differ from that of a full-scale vehicle. To determine the relevance of using a sub-scale aircraft for community annoyance studies, a laboratory study was conducted to verify that these spectral differences do not significantly affect human response. Indoor annoyance was evaluated for a variety of sonic booms predicted for several different sizes of vehicles. Previously reported results compared indoor annoyance for the different sizes using the metric Perceived Level (PL) at the exterior of the structure. Updated results include analyses with other candidate noise metrics, nonlinear regression, and specific boom duration effects.

Laboratory study of outdoor and indoor annoyance caused by sonic booms from sub-scale aircraft

Advances in integrated system design tools and technologies have enabled the development of supersonic aircraft concepts that are predicted to produce sonic booms with lower loudness levels while maintaining aerodynamic performance. Interest in the development of a low-boom flight demonstration vehicle for validating design and prediction tools and for conducting community response studies has led to the concept of a sub-scale test aircraft. Due to the smaller size and weight of the sub-scale vehicle, the resulting sonic boom is expected to contain spectral characteristics that differ from that of a full-scale vehicle. In order to justify the use of sub-scale aircraft for community annoyance studies, it is necessary to verify that these spectral differences do not significantly affect human response. The goal of the current study is to evaluate both outdoor and indoor annoyance caused by sonic booms predicted for these two classes of vehicles. The laboratory study is conducted in two sonic boom simulators that provide a realistic reproduction of the outdoor and indoor sonic booms. The indoor facility also provides a realistic listening environment to address the effect on human annoyance of interior rattle noises predicted to be induced by the structural excitation from the sonic boom.

Projected contributions of future wind farm development to community noise and annoyance levels in Ontario, Canada

Wind turbines produce sound during their operation; therefore, jurisdictions around the world have developed regulations regarding the placement of electricity generating wind farms with the intent of preventing unacceptable levels of ‘community noise’ in their vicinity. However, as survey results indicate that the relationship between wind turbine noise and annoyance may differ from noise-annoyance relationships for other common noise sources (e.g., rail, traffic), there are concerns that the application of general noise guidelines for wind turbines may lead to unacceptably high levels of annoyance in communities. In this study, previously published survey results that quantified wind turbine noise and self-reported annoyance were applied to the predicted noise levels (from turbines and transformers) for over 8000 receptors in the vicinity of 13 planned wind power developments in the province of Ontario, Canada. The results of this analysis indicate that the current wind turbine noise restrictions in Ontario will limit community exposure to wind turbine related noise such that levels of annoyance are unlikely to exceed previously established background levels of noise-related annoyance from other common noise sources. This provides valuable context that should be considered by policy-makers when evaluating the potential impacts of wind turbine noise on the community.

On the relationship between blast noise complaints and community annoyance

Military installations typically rely on noise complaints to indicate adverse noise environments and often restrict the firing of certain weapons to reduce the number of noise complaints. Using complaints in this manner may also imply that the absence of complaints is an indicator of low community annoyance. The relationship between individual complaints and general community annoyance, however, is currently not established, and it is unknown whether implementing restrictions in reaction to individual complaints is an appropriate or necessary way to reduce community annoyance. This paper looks at whether there are significant differences in reported annoyance to complaint-referenced blast events and general military noise annoyance between those who complain and their non-complaining neighbors. Those who complained were significantly more annoyed to both complaint-referenced blast events and general military noise in comparison to their non-complaining neighbors. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of range management.

A review of road traffic barriers for low frequency noise

Australia relies heavily on road transport due to its large area and low population density in many parts of the country. Trucks and heavy vehicles are commonly used for road freight. In addition to their normal vehicle brakes, heavy vehicles are typically fitted with release engine brakes which operate by causing the engine to act as a compressor when braking. Compression braking generates a distinct low frequency rumble that can heard at large distances and is a major source of community annoyance reactions against the heavy vehicle industry. Noise from compression brakes is an on-going cause of complaint from many Australian residents, particularly in rural areas and at night-time. Noise barriers can be used to reduce the spread of general traffic noise and their effectiveness is determined by many factors. This paper presents a review of barriers optimized for road traffic noise and the frequency ranges at which the various barrier designs are most efficient, with a view to selecting the barriers that may be more effective at reducing the low frequency noise from compression brakes.

A Study on Hydrogen Sulphide as Potential Tracer in Landfill Gas Monitoring

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are one of the major source of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) which is the offensive odours potentially creating annoyance in adjacent communities. This project focuses on H2S emission from landfills in Perlis, Malaysia. Landfill gas (LFG) samples were collected and analyzed accordance with NIOSH method 6013. The mean concentrations of H2S in Kuala Perlis Landfill and Padang Siding Landfill are 210.68 ppm and 242.85 ppm respectively. High concentrations of H2S may be a concern for employees working on the landfill site. These results indicate that workers should use proper personal protection at landfill when involved in excavation, landfill gas collection, and refuse compaction. The formation of H2S most likely to be contributed by the biological conversion of sulfate from gypsum-rich soils and landfill wastewater treatment sludges by sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) which can utilize dissolved sulfate as an electron acceptor. H2S is conveniently detected by hand held analyzer, such Jerome meter, landfill gas analyzer. In the organic range, in the ease of detection range in the dispersion rate within the landfill site, the monitored H2S gas form a very noticeable concentration with the travelling wind direction. It proved that the dispersion rate of H2S are suitable as tracer to detect route of travelling in a certain distance.

Perceived annoyance from environmental odors and association with atmospheric ammonia levels in non-urban residential communities: a cross-sectional study.

ObjectiveOdor exposure is an environmental stressor that is responsible of many citizens complains about air pollution in non-urban areas. However, information about the exposure-response relation is scarce. One of the main challenges is to identify a measurable compound that can be related with odor annoyance responses. We investigated the association between regional and temporal variation of ammonia (NH3) concentrations in five Danish non-urban regions and environmental odor annoyance as perceived by the local residents.MethodsA cross-sectional study where NH3 concentration was obtained from the national air quality monitoring program and from emission-dispersion modelling, and odor pollution perception from questionnaires. The exposure-response model was a sigmoid model. Linear regression analyses were used to estimate the model constants after equation transformations. The model was validated using leave-one-out cross validation (LOOCV) statistical method.ResultsAbout 45% of the respondents were annoyed by odor pollution at their residential areas. The perceived odor was characterized by all respondents as animal waste odor. The exposure-annoyance sigmoid model showed that the prevalence of odor annoyance was significantly associated with NH3 concentrations (measured and estimated) at the local air quality monitoring stations (p < 0.01,R2 = 0.99; and p < 0.05,R2 = 0.93; respectively). Prediction errors were below 5.1% and 20% respectively. The seasonal pattern of odor perception was associated with the seasonal variation in NH3 concentrations (p < 0.001, adjusted R2 = 0.68).ConclusionThe results suggest that atmospheric NH3 levels at local air quality stations could be used as indicators of prevalence of odor annoyance in non-urban residential communities.

Environmental noise management in Korea

More than 40% of Koreans are exposed to excessive noise levels which can lead to serious health effects, community annoyance and sleep disturbance. Government policy and management of the noise are necessary to solve these problems. In this paper, some projects carried out to mitigate the excessive noise levels under the support of the Ministry of Environment in Korea have been introduced. They include the projects such as making a long-term plan in the field of noise management, amendment of the existing legislation and noise measurement methods, establishment of noise map directive, construction of traffic noise monitoring system, and management of low frequency noise.

Relationship between civil aircraft noise and community annoyance near Dubai International Airport

According to Airport Council International (ACI) traffic statistics for 2002, Dubai International Airport is the second fastest growing airport in the world. In 2007, it catered to more than 36 million passengers, with approximately 1,000 daily flight events, including takeoffs and landings. In this paper, we report the first assessment of community annoyance caused by civil aircraft noise exposure at nine sites around Dubai International Airport (United Arab Emirates). Our aim is to assess the relationship between aircraft noise levels and annoyance responses in Dubai. To accomplish our goal, we have adapted the WECPNL and Ldn as the aircraft noise indices in Dubai, and the percentage of highly annoyed responses (%HA) has been used to assess the dose–response relationship of aircraft noise. %HA was obtained using social surveys that were carried out at nine sites within close proximity of the airport utilizing the ISO/TS 15666-2003 questionnaire. Subjects ranging between 20 and 65 years in age were randomly selected. Results show that 41% of the respondents said that they are highly annoyed, a percentage considered high but in agreement with similar studies carried out near major airports in other countries.

Investigation of the relationship between aircraft noise and community annoyance in China

A survey of community annoyance induced by aircraft noise exposure was carried out around Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport. To investigate the relationship curves between aircraft noise and the percentage of "highly annoyed" persons in China and also to get annoyance threshold of aircraft noise in China. Noise annoyance induced by aircraft noise exposure was assessed by 764 local residents around the airport using the International Commission on Biological Effect of Noise (ICBEN) scale. The status quo of aircraft noise pollution was measured by setting up 39 monitoring points. The interpolation was used to estimate the weighted effective continuous perceived noise levels (LWECPN) in different areas around the airport, and the graph of equal noise level contour was drawn. The membership function was used to calculate the annoyance threshold of aircraft noise. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 and Origin 8.0. The results showed that if LWECPN was 64.3 dB (Ldn was 51.4 dB), then 15% respondents were highly annoyed. If LWECPN was 68.1 dB (Ldn was 55.0 dB), then 25% respondents were highly annoyed. The annoyance threshold of aircraft noise (LWECPN) was 73.7 dB, while the annoyance threshold of a single flight incident instantaneous noise level (LAmax) was 72.9 dB. People around the airport had felt annoyed before the aircraft noise LWECPN reached the standard limit.

Characterization and control of odorous gases at a landfill site: A case study in Hangzhou, China

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are one of the major sources of offensive odors potentially creating annoyance in adjacent communities. At the end of May 2007, an odor pollution incident occurred at the Tianziling landfill site, Hangzhou, China, where the residents lodged complaints about the intense odor from the landfill, which drew a significant attention from the government. In this study, ambient air monitoring was conducted at the Tianziling landfill site. The main odor composition of the gas samples collected on June 1st 2007 and the reduction of various odorous gases from the samples collected on June 1st 2009 due to the applied odor control techniques were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In addition, variations of primary odorous gaseous (NH 3 and H 2S) concentrations at different locations in the landfill site from July 2007 to June 2009 were also investigated by using classical spectrophotometric methods. Results showed that a total of 68 volatile compounds were identified among which H 2S (56.58–579.84 μg/m 3) and NH 3 (520–4460 μg/m 3) were the notable odor components contributing to 4.47–10.92% and 83.91–93.94% of total concentrations, respectively. Similar spatial and temporal shifts of H 2S and NH 3 concentrations were observed and were significantly affected by environmental factors including temperature, air pressure and wind direction. Odor pollution was worse when high temperature, high humidity, low air pressure, and southeast, northeast or east wind appeared. Moreover, the environmental sampling points of the dumping area and the leachate treatment plant were found to be the main odor sources at the Tianziling landfill site. The odor control technologies used in this project had a good mitigating effect on the primary odorous compounds. This study provides long-term valuable information concerning the characteristics and control of odors at landfill sites in a long run.

A theory‐based model of the prevalence of transportation noise annoyance.

Dosage‐response relationships between cumulative noise exposure and the prevalence of annoyance in communities are generally developed by statistical curve fitting methods. Generic methods of this sort, such as regression, can characterize the central tendency of findings of social surveys, but provide no explanation for the great variability of these data. Further, confidence intervals around a regression curve do not yield prediction intervals appropriate for use in environmental disclosure documents. An alternative approach under consideration by ISO Working Group 45 for inclusion in an updated draft international standard is based on the hypothesis that the rate of growth of the prevalence of annoyance closely resembles that of the rate of growth of effective (that is, duration‐corrected) loudness. A comprehensive database of the findings of 43 aircraft noise annoyance studies provides strong empirical support for the hypothesis.

U.S. Army's Systematic Approach to Management of Community Response to the Sounds of Explosions

Historically, the U.S. Army's concern with community response to the sound of explosions dates back to the late 1950s, when research efforts focused on avoiding damage to wood-frame houses. In the 1970s, the emphasis shifted to minimizing community annoyance. Beginning in the 1990s, the emphasis shifted from managing annoyance to managing noise complaints. Drawing from the experience of noise management programs at commercial airports, the Army's research efforts in regards to noise complaint management center around the six elements of an “ideal” program. This paper summarizes the Army's research efforts, past and present, on four of the six elements of the ideal program.

Using an Odour-Noise Relationship to Help Place a Monetary Value on Odour Abatement

One route to establishing the economic level of odour abatement around a problem site requires that a monetary value per property be ascribed to the benefit of odour reduction. The literature on the monetary value of odour abatement was relatively sparse but a number of hedonic pricing studies into reductions in house prices produced an area weighted price reduction for the alleviation of impact in the region of £6,000 per property. No information could be obtained as to the level of odour or the degree of reduction involved. Studies into noise suggested a value of £350 per property per dB reduction, though with a high relative standard deviation. An odour-noise equivalence was established based on equal levels of community annoyance. A 1dB reduction in noise levels was equivalent to a reduction in odour concentration by a factor of 1.11. Applying the value per dB directly to odour results in a value for a 90% reduction in odour of £,600 per property. A dispersion model was used to establish the relative reductions in odour levels associated with the hedonic pricing studies into odour. This produced the larger value of £790 per dB equivalent or £17,400 per property for a 90% reduction in odour levels.