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Project

The impact of road degradation and traffic noise interventions on the quality of life.

In a recent publication by the World Health Organisation it is recommended to keep (weighted) traffic noise levels during the whole day (Lden) below 53 dB(A) and during the night (Lnight) below 45 dB(A). As these new recommendations are stricter than the previous ones, an increase of (traffic) noise interventions can be expected in Belgium and Europe. Recent research also states that the effectiveness of traffic noise interventions on human health has been investigated in only a limited amount of studies. It is therefore important to further investigate this link.In this project, an answer to this question will be given regarding two types of noise interventions: low noise road surfaces and noise barriers. This will be achieved by combining already available results from acoustic measurements and surveys with results from detailed case-specific noise maps (Lden and Lnight), calculated in IMMI. Two test locations with so-called thin noise-reducing asphalt layers, five control streets (all streets located in Antwerp) and seven locations equipped with noise barriers (across Flanders) are part of this research.A second objective is to determine the impact of the degradation of road surfaces on environmental noise maps, by using available CPX-results as input for noise maps of a city center, and by evaluating the sound files with psycho-acoustic descriptors and in listening tests. A database with different CPX-sound files will be constructed first (differences in speed, type of pavement surface, age and number of defects …), before analysing them using the Psysound Matlab toolbox.
Date:1 Apr 2019 →  30 Mar 2020
Keywords:ROADS, ACOUSTIC ANALYSIS, NOISE POLLUTION, NOISE BARRIER
Disciplines:Urban physics