An investigation of community response to Urban traffic noise

Abstract

Road transportation plays a major role in the economic and social development of a nation. With the increase in vehicle population, noise will increase. This paper describes the reaction to environmental noise of the city of Kerman. A total of 250 questionnaires were processed. The finding of this study revealed that the main isolated noise sources were traffic (50%), street noise (34%) and construction (16%). This research also revealed that the main outcomes of exposure to noise were: irritability (40.8%), insomnia (24%), difficulty to concentrate (16%) and conservation disruption (16%). In this study A-weighted continuous equivalent sound level values L Aeq , L max , L min and statistical levels L 50, L 90, L 99 were manually measured at each site separately. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009.