A survey of urban noise annoyance in a large Brazilian city: the importance of a subjective analysis in conjunction with a objective analysis

摘要

This study describes the reaction to environmental noise of the population of Curitiba (～1,6 Million inhabitants). Out of 1000 distributed forms, 860 were returned. The main isolated noise sources revealed by the survey as disturbing were traffic (73%) and neighbors (38%). As a class, neighborhood noise was pointed out as the most disturbing type of noise as 100% of the surveyed people indicated at least one of the items belonging to this class: neighbors, animals, sirens, civil construction, religions temples, night clubs, toys, domestic electric appliances. The main outcomes of exposure to noise were: irritability (58%), difficulty to concentrate (42%), sleeping disorders (20%) and headaches (20%). In this survey it is also discussed the importance of the realization of objective surveys, in other words, noise emission measurements in conjunction with the subjective evaluation of the reaction of the urban population to the environmental noise. The present survey shows that in the subjective evaluation performed in the city of Curitiba, the perception of the population is that the urban noise has increased. On the other hand, another study conducted in the same city, where only the noise emission levels were evaluated, has showed a decrease on the urban noise.