Psychoacoustic assessment of railway noise in sensitive areas and times: is a rail bonus still appropriate (original) (raw)
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Impact assessment of a railway noise in an alpine valley
2010
Much of the existing European legislation on railway noise impact assessment refers to indicators based on long term weighted averages of acoustic intensities (L dn , L den , L eq). However, several studies have pointed out that noise event indicators are more appropriate in order to evaluate annoyance due to intermittent noise sources, such as those due to rail traffic. The computation of these short-term averaged indicators (L max , SEL) requires the estimation of the instantaneous sound level in the surrounding areas, over a region of several square kilometers. We have developed an analytical model, named TR-Noise, for the outdoor propagation of rail traffic generated noise. TR-Noise adopts a quasi-steady description of outdoor noise propagation to compute cartography of instantaneous sound level and therefore short-term averaged indicators. The noise sources are modelled as a weighted sum of monopole and dipole moving at uniform velocity along a rail track. The model of ambient noise propagation is based on the ISO/DIS 9613-2 International Standards and takes into account different mechanisms of sound attenuation in the ambient. The model has been used to study the impact assessment of a new railway in a dense populated alpine valley. Firstly, the model was calibrated by means of a field measurement campaign. Sound level measurements performed close to the rail track have been used to estimate the intensity of the source strength related to different kind of trains. Measurements at larger distances from the rail track allowed us to evaluate the performance of the model and to define the influence of different factors contributing to sound attenuation. Results show that the model is a reliable tool to simulate sound level cartographies due future scenarios of rail traffic and evaluate their impact on the population.
Noise annoyance through railway traffic -a case study
This paper describes an assessment of noise caused by railway traffic in a large Latin American city. Measurements were taken of noise levels generated by trains passing through residential neighborhoods with and without blowing their horns. Noise maps were also calculated showing noise pollution generated by the train traffic. In addition-annoyance of the residents-affected by railway noise, was evaluated based on interviews. The measurements indicated that the noise levels generated by the passage of the train with its horn blowing are extremely high, clearly exceeding the daytime limits of equivalent sound pressure level-L eq = 55 dB(A)-established by the municipal laws No 10.625 of the city of Curitiba. The L eq = 45 dB (A) which is the limit for the night period also are exceeded during the passage of trains. The residents reported feeling affected by the noise generated by passing trains, which causes irritability, headaches, poor concentration and insomnia, and 88% of them claimed that nocturnal noise pollution is the most distressing. This study showed that the vast majority of residents surveyed, (69%) believe that the noise of the train can devalue their property.
Railways noise assessment in urban area for evaluating health effects
Study on the Effects of Airport Noise (SERA) was carried out by some of the authors between 2012 and 2013. The results shown a correlation between the airport noise levels greater than 55 dB(A) and high blood pressure, sleep disturbance and annoyance. Following the same methodology we performed a measurement campaign in the city of Pisa in order to characterize the noise impact of the railway infrastructure in the urban environment. We paid particular attention to analyse the sources of railway noise not simply referable to transiting, but more generally related to railway operations, which are usually neglected in the noise modeling. The choice of the measuring points is based on railway infrastructure characteristics and on the receptors distribution. A sample of 100 people between the ages of 35 and 70 who live in near these points from a minimum of 5 years was selected for the questionnaires through personal interviews. The results of the interviews and the measurements are used to verify the existence of a correlation between various aspects of railway noise using LDEN and a number of factors, including blood pressure, annoyance and sleep disturbance.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2017
The A-weighted sound pressure level (SPL) is commonly used to assess the effect of noise reduction measures on noise-induced annoyance. While for road traffic noise loudness seems to be a better descriptor of annoyance, for railway noise a systematic investigation seems to be lacking. Thus, in this study, the relation between annoyance and perceptually motivated descriptors was investigated for various conditions of binaural recordings of pass-bys of cargo and passenger trains. The conditions included free field and spectral mitigations caused by a 4 m high noise barrier, a 1 m high noise barrier close to the track, and rail dampers. Forty listeners performed a free magnitude estimation of annoyance for different presentation levels and the ratings were fit to various models. Further, level changes required to evoke a noticeable change in annoyance (annoyance thresholds) were acquired. The models based on the A-weighted SPL explained the ratings and thresholds better when the reduction measure was explicitly provided as a parameter. However, the optimal models were loudness-level-based models, which were able to better describe the annoyance, even independently of the reduction measure. Both experiments underline the effectiveness of loudness when describing the annoyance in the area of railway noise reduction.
Experimental investigation of noise annoyance caused by high-speed trains
2005
The observed difference in perceived annoyance caused by train and highway noise at the same averaged noise level, has led to the introduction of the 'railway bonus'. This bonus has found its way to the noise legislation in many countries, leading to more relaxed restrictions on time averaged noise levels, L Aeq . With the introduction of high-speed trains and train-like transportation systems based on magnetic levitation, the question has risen whether the railway bonus can still be applied. The design of the present experiment was different from previous efforts in many ways. Most importantly, it was conducted in a realistic setting, a holiday cottage, and participants were asked to engage in light daily activities during the tests. Traffic noise was reproduced in an ecologically valid way, using outdoor loudspeakers. A stepwise selection procedure was based on a screening questionnaire that was administered at the doorstep of 1500 people living around the test site, to be representative for the Dutch population. Finally, 100 representative participants were selected.
Railway bonus for noise disturbance in laboratory settings
Acoustical Science and Technology, 2005
Disturbance caused by railway and road traffic noises in simulated outdoor (noise levels at L Aeq, 6 min of 55, 65 and 75 dB) and indoor (noise levels at L Aeq, 6 min of 35, 45 and 55 dB) conditions was investigated in laboratory settings. In each experiment, 30 Japanese and 30 Chinese subjects were requested to perform auditory (listening) and non-auditory (calculation) tasks while each noise was presented for 6 minutes, and then to assess the disturbance caused by the noises using 5-point verbal scales constructed by the ICBEN method. The results showed that though some railway bonus caused by noise masking did exist for auditory task in the outdoor conditions, no railway bonus was found for the other situations. On the contrary, in the indoor conditions, railway noise was evaluated to be a little more disturbing to the activities than road traffic noise by the subjects in most cases. Though the Japanese subjects appeared to be more sensitive to noises than the Chinese subjects, no systematic difference was found between the two subject groups.
Selected Approaches to the Assessment of Environmental Noise from Railways in Urban Areas
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Rail transport is the second most important way of transporting people and freights by land in the European Union. Rail noise affects around 12 million people in the European Union during the day and around 9 million at night. There are two possible ways to assess environmental noise: noise measurement in situ and prediction using mathematical models. The aim of the work is based on the performed measurements and selected noise predictions to evaluate the accuracy of the prediction models and assess their sensitivity to various aspects. Two measuring points in the Banská Bystrica Self-Governing Region, within Slovakia, were selected for measurement, which is characterized by increased mobility of the population. For prediction, the two methodologies were selected (Schall 03 and Methodical instructions for the calculation of sound pressure level from transport). The results show that the Schall 03 method is sensitive to the measurement location (the value reaches half of the signific...
Evaluation Of The External Noise Of High Speed Trains Using Physical And Psychoacoustic Descriptors
The objective of this coomunication is to evaluate the sound quality of the external noise of different highspeed trains of the Spanish national net. For that purpose we have carried out measures of the noise: physical (SpL dBA, SpL dB, SpL dBC), and psychoacoustic predictors: Loudness, Roughness, Sharpness and Tonality. We present the correlations among the physical parameters and psychoacoustics that allow describing the sound quality of the trains. Using psychoacoustics parameters we establishes the sound quality of nuisance and dislike in analytic terms.
Evaluation Of The External Noise Of High Speed Trains Using Phisical And Psychoacoustics Descriptors
The objective of this coomunication is to evaluate the sound quality of the external noise of different highspeed trains of the Spanish national net. For that purpose we have carried out measures of the noise: physical (SpL dBA, SpL dB, SpL dBC), and psychoacoustic predictors: Loudness, Roughness, Sharpness and Tonality. We present the correlations among the physical parameters and psychoacoustics that allow describing the sound quality of the trains. Using psychoacoustics parameters we establishes the sound quality of nuisance and dislike in analytic terms.