Assessment, Prediction and Mapping of Noise Levels in Vellore City, India

Abstract

Present study focuses on measurement, prediction and mapping of noise levels in important places of Vellore city located in Tamil Nadu state, India. Weekday and weekend noise levels at six locations (S1 to S6) are recorded during morning, afternoon and evening times. Sampling locations includes educational (S1), commercial (S2 and S4), tourist and recreational (S3), and mixed (S5 and S6) zones. Assessment in Vellore city showed maximum Leq level in S4 and S5 and lowest is recorded in S3 throughout the study. Highest Leq levels are recorded in evening (57.52-78.41 dB(A)) and afternoon (58.76-76.39 dB(A)) time during weekday and weekend, respectively. Along with Leq, noise descriptors are also included and discussed in this study. Weekend has higher mean value of TNI thanWeekday. CoRTN model is employed to predict the L10 values. Results showed good performance of model with marginal difference between measured and predicted L10 levels. Further noise maps are created separately for weekday and weekend using ArcGIS software. Noise maps showed alarming noise levels near sampling sites and it is suggested to take immediate preventive measures using barriers or by providing alternative traffic routes.