At the heart of Harmonica project: the Common Noise Index (CNI)

摘要

The difficulty for the general public to understand the standard acoustic indicators expressed in decibels limits their suitability. Therefore, since 2011, Bruitparif and Acoucite (agencies in charge of assessing and monitoring noise in the two major French urban areas) have been working on a proposal to create a new index that is closer to what the population feels, based on a score from 0 to 10. This work is being carried out within the framework of the Harmonica project, financed by the European Commission (LIFE+ program). Four proposals of indices have been developed, based on different approaches, but all integrating both the continuous and the sporadic nature of noise. The new indices were adjusted and evaluated through in situ inhabitants' surveys and in laboratory with a larger public. The results were also compared with values supplied by the usual indicators.(end of 2013). This article details the composition of the indices and the methodological approach used to create them.