Page 40 - Special Issue

What To Do About
What To Do About Environmental Noise?
Environmental Noise?
Continued from page 25
iMnuCrphiyt,tEe.n, adnednKCinogu, En.tAy,. (V20e1r6mb)o. nTets(tiKngaltihsekaicecut ralc.y, o2f0s0m7a)r.tpThhoeniers
tSiicmuplsaornly, Min., canitdieBsr.uThce,eRp. (r1e9c8i1s)e. NroliseeiisncAemrtearicnal:yExutpenftoorf tdhebNaotiese, Problem. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington,
and sound level meter applications for measuring environmental noise. work found that 30% of residents were exposed to road traf-
but there seems little doubt that there is likely to be more DC.
Applied Acoustics 106, 16-22.
fic noise levels above 45-dB(A) L despite Chittenden be-
technology-based passive monitoring of all forms of envi- Stansfeld, S. A., and Matheson, M. P. (2003). Noise pollution: Non-auditory
Murphy, E., King, E. A., and Rice, H. J. (200eq9). Estimating human exposure ing considered a rural county in US terms. More recently,
roeffnemctsenontahlepalothl.luBrtitoisnh Minedtihcael Bfutlluetrine.6W8, 2it4h3-2r5e7s.pect to environ-
to transport noise in central Dublin, Ireland. Environment International 35, 298-302.
Seong et al. (2011) undertook road noise mapping for Ful-
Swinburn, T. K., Hammer, M. S., and Neitzel, R. L. (2015). Valuing quiet: mental noise, there are two crucial areas of importance. The
Naitoh, P., Muzet, A., and Lienhard, J. P. (1975). Effects of noise and elevated ton County, Georgia, including noise mapping of down-
An economic assessment of U.S. environmental noise as a cardiovascular first relates to the imminent development of electric cars.
temperature on sleep cycle. Sleep Research 4, 174.
town Atlanta. Their estimates of population exposure from
health hazard. American Journal of Preventative Medicine 49, 345-353. Given that road traffic noise is the most important source of
Ohrstrom, E. (1993). Research on noise and sleep: Present state. In Vallet, thMe. c(Eodn.)s,tPrruoceteiodingos fofnthoeis6ethmInateprnsaftoiounnaldCothngartes4s 8on%NoifsethasearPeusib-
Tassi, P., Saremi, M., Schimchowitsch, S., Eschenlauer, A., Rohmer, O., and enMvuizreot,nAm. (e2n0t1a0l).nCoairsdeio, vthasecruelairsraespsiognnseisfitcoarnatilwoapypnooritsue nduitryintgoslree-p
lic Health Problem, International Commission on the Biological Effects of dent population was exposed to noise levels of 55 dB(A) or
in young and middle-aged adults. European Journal of Applied Physiology duce pollution and associated health problems through the
Noise (ICBEN), French National Institute for Transport and Safety Re- higher during daytime, with 32% exposed to 50 dB(A) or
108, 671–680.
wider substitution and use of these vehicles over those that
search (INRETS), Nice, France, July 5-9, 1993, vol. 3, pp. 331-338.
Van Cauter, E., Speigel, K., Tasali, E., and Leproult, R. (2008). Metabolic are chemically powered. Electric cars are much quieter and
higher during nighttime. Recent work by King et al. (2014) Ohrstrom, E., and Rylander, R. (1982). Sleep disturbance effects of traffic
consequences of sleep and sleep loss. Sleep Medicine 9, S23-S28. svoanlodenngBaesrgt,hMe.,adndiLticoitnra,oGf.a(r2t0i0fi9c).iaElUs-onouinsedmsatpos:sAuncahlysvieshoficsluebs-
untioliszee—dAthlaebonraotiosrey-smtuadpyponinagftepr-reoffceectsss.JtoourcnraelaotfeSoaundoainsedVmibarpationf 84, 87-103.
mitted data and comments. Proceedings of the Institute of Acoustics, 8th is restricted, they have considerable potential to aid with re-
the city of Hartford, CT, while somewhat related work uti-
European Conference on Noise Control 2009 (EURONOISE 2009), Edin-
Ohrstrom, E., and Skanberg, A. (2004). Sleep disturbances from road traffic
lized smartphone noise apps to create a strategic noise map and ventilation noise—Laboratory and field experiments. Journal of Sound
ductions in annoyance and sleep disturbance. The second burgh, Scotland, UK, October 26-28, 2009, pp. 1385-1392.
of West Hartford, CT (Murphy and King, 2016a). Larger cit- and Vibration 271, 279-296.
rvealnaKteasmtpo, I.t,hJoeb,dRe.vF.e,lHoaptfimeledn, Jt.,oHfailnoews,-Mco. Mst.,nStoelilsaeto,mR.eKa.s,uanredmStaenst-
Perron, S., Tétreault, L. F., King, N., Plante, C., and Smargiassi, A. (2012). ies such as San Francisco have also mapped the city’s traf-
feld, S. A. (2004). The role of noise sensitivity in the noise-response rela- devices that are likely to play a greater role in the future. In
Review of the effect of aircraft noise on sleep disturbance in adults. Noise fic noise levels (Hammer et al., 2014). All of the foregoing
tion: A comparison of three international airport studies. The Journal of particular, the development of noise apps for smartphones is
Health 14, 58-67.
demonstrates the possibility of utilizing the EU approach for
the Acoustical Society of America 116, 3471-3479.
likely to become more important as technology improves in
Rabat, A., Bouyer, J. J., Aran, J. M., Le Moal, M., and Mayo, W. (2005). uCnhdreorntiackeixnpgossutrreattoeagnicenvoiriosnemenatpapl ninoigseinpeUrmSanceitnitelys.disturbs sleep
Vienneau, D., Schindler, C., Perez, L., and Probst-Hensch, N. (2015). The threlaftuiotnusrheip(sbeetwteheenatratincslpeorbtyatiBoennnFoiaseberxpionsuthreisanisdsuisechoefmAicohueasr-t
in rats: Inter-individual vulnerability. Brain Research 1059, 72-82.
In the United States, the TNM is the FHWA-accepted calcu-
disease. Environmental Research 138, 371-380. tics Today for examples).
Rochat, J. L., and Reiter, D. (2016). Highway traffic noise. Acoustics Today la1t2io(4n), 3m8-e4t7h. od for predicting noise from active highways. It
World Health Organization (WHO). (2009). Night Noise Guidelines for Eu-
Seong, J. S., Park, T. H., Kob, J. H., Chang, S. I., Kimc, M., Holt, J. B., and is packaged in the form of an approved computer program,
World Health Organization (WHO). (2011). Burden of Disease from Envi- ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) microphones that can
Mehdi, M. R. (2011). Modeling of road traffic noise and estimated human and it is only this program that is validated for use in the
ronmental Noise. World Health Organization, Copenhagen.
be constructed relatively cheaply and at a low cost. Indeed,
exposure in Fulton County, Georgia, USA. Environment International 37, U1n3i3t6e-d144S1t.ates by the FHWA. Other computer applications
recent research testing smartphones and apps in the labo-
Summer 2017 | Acoustics Today | 43 ratory has demonstrated that when a significant number of
samples are taken, some of the apps currently on the market are already remarkably reliable if not yet perfect (Murphy and King, 2016b). As the reliability of these microphones improves in the future, they will undoubtedly provide a much better scope for measurement-based noise mapping, something that has already been undertaken in the United States (Murphy and King, 2016a). In addition, low-cost vali- dation of noise modeling results as well as more accurate and reliable once-off measurements may be possible.
More broadly, it is also conceivable that the public could contribute much more significantly than at present in pro- viding noise measurement data through mobile/cell phones in a form of citizen science initiative that could aid noise mapping. This would certainly serve to create a sense of em- powerment for citizens with regard to their role in monitor- ing the quality of their environment.
can be used to predict noise levels near highways but only if the FHWA has determined that it is consistent with the methodology of the TNM. The TNM was developed pri- marily to assess the impact of highways and was not meant to be applied to the mapping of complex city environments involving a grid of many receiver points with more reflec- tions and diffraction than would typically be experienced near highways. Because of this, it has not been widely used for noise mapping. In fact, King et al. (2014) assessed the ap- plicability of TNM to mapping studies and found that, in its current form, it is unsuitable for the development of urban noise maps. If the United States is to develop a noise-map- ping program in the future, this is a clear obstacle that will need to be addressed as a priority.
The Role of Technology
It is important also to consider the role that smart technolo- gy will have in the future monitoring of noise pollution, par-
24 | Acoustics Today | Summer 2017
40 | Acoustics Today | Spring 2020, Special Issue
rope. World Health Organization, Copenhagen.
The technology utilized in mobile/cell phones is Micro-
Reprinted from volume 13, issue 2