Highway Noise Criteria Study: Traffic Noise Data Base

摘要

This report documents a traffic noise data base that was obtained as part of a large research program developed to identify and quantify the important physical parameters which affect human response to time-varying traffic noise and to investigate various procedures for rating such noise so as to enable reliable predictions of subjective response to the noise. Fifteen-minute recordings of actual traffic noise were made at four microphone positions (7.5, 15, 30, and 60 m from the centerline of the near lane) at several times of the day at each of seven sites, five representing nominally constant-speed traffic and two representing stop-and-go intersection traffic. The 107 recordings that resulted were subjected to extensive analysis. The analysis procedures are described and tables and graphs are included which document, for each recording, the 1/3-octave band spectra and numerous noise descriptors computed from the time-histories of the A-weighted sound level. As a separate part of this study, recordings also were made of the noise from single-vehicle passbys and from simulated traffic consisting of controlled drive-bys of up to ten vehicles. These recordings also were extensively analyzed and the results of these analyses are given.