Achim KLEIN : Annoyance indicators for various urban road vehicle pass-by noises and urban road traffic noise combined with tramway noise

Abstract:

Noise pollution is a major concern for residents of urban areas. To date, the European directive 2002/49/CE requires member states to represent community noise through noise maps. These are produced using the Lden (day-evening-night level) index which is also employed for dose-effect relationships in noise annoyance prediction. However, for the assessment of noise annoyance in urban areas, its relevance is often questioned. Numerous studies have shown that noise annoyance due to community noise is not solely based on the sound pressure level and other acoustical signal characteristics such as temporal and spectral features influence noise annoyance ratings. This thesis aims to improve the assessment of noise annoyance due to various road vehicle noises in cities. It is based on experiments carried out in laboratory conditions and comprises two main parts. The first addresses the enhancement of the physical and perceptual characterization of annoyance due to various urban road vehicle pass-by noises, such as buses, poweredtwo- wheelers, heavy vehicles and light vehicles. A specific focus is put on the characterization of annoyance due to powered-two-wheelers which are among the most annoying road vehicles and studied little in the existing literature. An indicator accounting for annoyance-relevant auditory attributes of urban road vehicle pass-by noises is determined: it comprises loudness, a spectral index and two modulation indices proposed in this work. In urban agglomerations, people are often exposed to road traffic in presence of a variety of other environmental noise sources. The focal point of the second part is on the prediction of total annoyance due to urban road traffic noise combined with tramway noise. In the aim of adequately characterizing total annoyance, first the perceptual phenomena involved in annoyance due to the combination of the sources are studied. Furthermore, the analysis allows for the testing of the proposed noise annoyance indicator for the characterization of urban road traffic noise. To characterize annoyance due to tramway noise, an indicator determined in a recent study is employed. Based on these indicators and the findings regarding perceptual phenomena, models for the prediction of total annoyance due to combined urban road traffic and tramway noise are proposed.