Urban noise protection

Abstract

Noise belongs to the severest environmental impairments in towns, with road traffic being the most annoying noise source. The reduction of these impairments and the precaution against new noise impacts is an important task of the communities. However, many of the potential abatement measures are not in the responsibility of the communities. In most European countries, noise emission regulations for road and rail vehicles and outdoor machinery are nowadays enforced by the European Union. Noise reception limits are generally enforced by national laws. Therefore, efficient noise abatement in towns has to be coordinated with the regional, national and supranational, i.e. European noise policy. The most important fields of action for the urban noise abatement are the roads, railways and airports with heavy traffic. For the avoidance of health risks due to noise here short-term reductions are needed, which can generally be achieved only by a combination of measures for which different stakeholders are responsible. This underlines the importance of integrated and coordinated noise abatement concepts.