Reliability of Different Environmental Noise Monitoring Programs in Serbia

Abstract

Annual environmental noise monitoring is a legal requirement for local self-governments in the Republic of Serbia. However, Serbian legislation does not stipulate specific monitoring procedures, so each local self-government unit has to create its own environmental monitoring program within its jurisdiction. This paper analyzes the reliability of noise monitoring programs in local self-government units, based on short-term measurements. The reliability of applicable environmental noise monitoring programs in Serbia was examined by simulating the program imlementation to the results of noise monitoring obtained through continuous measurement over a period of one year. The above mentioned simulation showed that the monitoring programs based on short-term monthly measurements and a measurement time interval over 24 hours have the best repeatability and reliability result, especially at locations with the same daily noise profile and the occasional occurrence of unexpected short-term noise events. The results obtained in this study indicated that, either with higher or lower degrees of reliability, other programs can be used to monitor noise at measurement points near major urban roads with heavy and relatively constant vehicle flow throughout the day.