Noise-management in public space with the Laarhoven-index~®, Evaluation of a new real life experience index

摘要

Noise in environmental legislation is based on electro-physical acoustics. The intention is to protect citizens against hearing damage and to guarantee quality of life. If the impact of psycho-acoustic factors is denied, civil servants will be faced with strong complaints in spite of their efforts to reduce noise pollution. This psychological gap in the existing legislation was our reason to begin research into other ways to measure noise pollution in urban situations. A pilot project of 10 "smart" monitors has been installed in downtown Oss in the south of The Netherlands to measure acoustic parameters and to calculate the innovative "Laarhoven-index". This index defines the disturbance of a suitable acoustic climate in a street and can be expressed as the resulting vector in a complex NDR-model (N= Normalization and exposure; D= Dynamics, low frequency and spectrum; R= Response and acceptance). The results of an extensive survey show fewer complaints about noise pollution. The monitor shows the acoustic situation in the street equivalent to real life experience of the inhabitants. The index appears to be a good instrument for noise management in the city centre; have the possibility to cumulate sound from various sources and is suitable to set up future simulations.