Europe Begins Noise Mapping Effort

Makarand writes "The European continent has begun its fight against noise pollution by initiating a program to map noise levels for cities in the European Union with more than 250,000 people. As placing microphones on every building in London or Paris to measure noise was not practical, data on the amount of traffic carried by roads and the noise levels was fed into computers to generate a model of noise levels across the city. The model's accuracy was verified by taking readings with microphones at 100 points in the city and was found to be accurate on average to within 1 decibel. The noise maps will allow planning to insulate the public from noise by directing traffic away from residential areas and making funds available to sound-proof thin walled homes."

traffic.equals(noise) returns false

[Manos Batsis]

As placing microphones on every building in London or Paris to measure noise was not practical, data on the amount of traffic carried by roads and the noise levels was fed into computers to generate a model of noise levels across the city. Who says noise comes only from traffic?

Re:Alternative Traffic

[scorilo]

Most European countries are already doing this. There are lanes on the roads specially designated for bycicles, they even have special lights and special signs for bycicles. Some municipalities (Geneve, Wien, etc.) provide free bycicles (you only have to leave a deposit, which is returned when you bring it back) and you can rent a bycicle in nearly all train station (and almost every city has one), and trains have special compartments so that you can travel with your bycicle. Public transportation is usually subsidized, and they pay much more for gasoline then in North America. Paris has a rollerblade marathon (its reply to Pamplona, maybe?). It's really kewl, I nearly destroyed my rental rollerblades!

1 decibel what?

[Eponymous, Showered]

1 decibel what? A decibel is not a unit. It's a ratio. A power ratio to be exact. 1 dB SPL?

Paris Noise

[lovebyte]

For those living in Paris or wanting to move there, there is a noise map available here [paris.fr].
I live in the noisiest part! Time to move to the country.

Re:cameras

[blane.bramble]

Yawn. Troll. The cameras aren't hidden, they are a combination of security cameras operated by businesses to protect their premises, and those operated by local cameras for traffic control, and where necessary, crime reduction in city centres etc. Yes, in London you are on camera much of the time. No, the cameras are not following you. The police can, after applying to the courts, ask for relevant tapes to solve crimes. Big f**king deal.

Re:Rich country?

[stry_cat]

I know this is Slashdot, but don't you ever go outside? Not much you can do to sound proof your yard, is there. I assume you never open your windows either? Personally, I do both and if I were in England, I would hope the government would be spending a little effort to make living areas a little more liveable.

Most neighborhoods I've seen build near roads have large sound barriers that really cut down on the noise. In many cases where new roads are made or old ones enlarged, sound barriers are included in the construction. Of course this doesn't actually put the cost of the things on the people who benefit from them. The people who benefit from these things should be the ones paying for them not the public at large. A better solution would be to have the homeowners association pay for the sound barriers.

Re:Rich country?

[slashusrslashbin]

Those worst affected houses in London are in general not just decades old, they are well on their way to being centuries old!

Not only do they have no sound insulation, but they may also have little thermal insulation, and ill-fitting single-glazed windows and doors.

For some time it's been possible to get grants to thermally insulate a house, largely since it is only really economic to do so in the long term (the energy savings also contribute to cutting CO2 emmissions), and poorer people living in the poorer housing can't afford it, and are usually renting anyway.

It's great to hear that the government may be recognizing noise pollution as something which significantly affects people's health in the same way that it recognizes air pollution as doing so.

Noise pollution from traffic causes sleep-deprevation, stress and ultimately illness, and most of the people living in the worst affected housing have little choice in where they live; it's not a choice of moving to somewhere nice and quiet, because that's where all the rich people have moved to.

Re:Rich country?

[Gordonjcp]

50 years old is fairly new for a lot of buildings in European cities. The flat I live in is in a building that's only about 120 years old. My own house up north is about 400 years old.

Bah

[Anonymous Coward]

Europe the continent != the EU, in the same way North America != the USA.

Re:1 decibel what?

[lcsjk]

Sound intensity is measured in db just like electrical power. The zero db level (Io) is defined as the threshold of human hearing for a 1000Hz tone, 10 ^(-16) watts per square centimeter.

Measured intensity is 10log(Inew/Io). However, the article said the calculated levels were accurate to within 1 db(average). That means the difference between calculated and measured was 1 db regardless of the actual level. Now, since the average was accurate within 1 db, that could mean 4 at 1/2 db difference and 1 at 3db difference for engineers. (.5+.5+.5+.5+3)/5=1

For politicians, it could mean that one was +42 and one was -38 for an average of (+48 -32)/2=1.
Beware of statistics.

Re:1 decibel what?

[imsabbel]

A decibell IS a unit.
Its not only 1/10 of the log10(x), but 1/10*log10(x/10^-12 w/m^2).

Blame the road surface not the drivers

[Andy_R]

a large portion of 'traffic noise' is due to bad road surfaces.

So, rather than annoying drivers by making them go a longer way round (and therefore increasing congestion and pollution) mending the roads would be a better solution.

Here are some statistics from the Hong Kong govt who are already doing this:
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environme ntinhk/ noise/data/road_surface.html

Re:traffic.equals(noise) returns false

[w3svc_animal]

This is already going on in the western U.S...
Cities are laying down rubberized asphalt in lieu of building noise walls.

A quote for the pdf belowThe study concluded that there was an approximate 10 dBA reduction in noise with the rubberized asphalt compared with the chip seal asphalt.
In my experience - it has been rather effective.

Check Here [rubberizedasphalt.org] and
Here [saccounty.net]

Re:traffic.equals(noise) returns false

[jandrese]

Uh, you may be surprised to hear this, but minivans have been around since the late 80s (earlier if you count the VW Microbus/Eurovan). They've never been small or particularly efficent vehicles, but they aren't considerably worse than the average 8 seat station wagon as far as pollution and gas milage go. It's not like a family with 6 kids will fit in a Prius.

Re:link to the Noise Level map for Paris

[wwwillem]

And for those not mastering French, click here [paris.fr] to get to the maps. Especially the 3D modeling part is pretty cool.

Re:traffic.equals(noise) returns false

[jridley]

No. 3db = twice as much power. 10db = perceived as twice as loud.

In addition, the "twice as loud" perception is highly dependent on the type of noise. The 10db = twice as loud rule only works for pure tones at 1KHz. At other frequencies / types of sound, the perception is different.

So 1db is really quite close.

1 decibel is quite a lot

[misterpies]

Decibels are a logarithmic scale: an increase of 1 decibel actually corresponds to a 30% increase in noise levels.

Actually I'm surprised it's even that accurate. Traffic levels only get you so far -- the urban environment (architecture, trees) is also extremely important. Under my apartmenet block there's a raised arcade that basically serves as a resonator, making traffic sound louder.

Re:Alternative Traffic

[Zog The Undeniable]

CO2 emissions are lower for bikes, but since they have no catalysts, NOx, CO and HC emissions - the poisonous ones - are way higher.

By the same token, an average gasoline-powered lawnmower used for 1 hour emits as much of the above harmful pollutants as a new car driven for 8,000 miles.

Re:Rich country?

[frinkster]

The US is spending some money on research for quieter roadways.
The Purdue Institute for Safe, Quiet, and Durable Highways [purdue.edu]

Just because it's not in the news doesn't mean it's not happening.

Re:Rich country?

[RevMike]

I've seen the same sort of short-sighted buying in the US in rural areas. I've seen places where people have built new houses a half mile from a livestock farm that has been there for 50 years, then when they finally move in, they discover that when the wind is blowing the right way, there's a smell. Then they try to get zoning changed, or they sue, or some other tactic, to try to get the farm closed. What, you didn't think pigs smelled? Or did you even check to see who your neighbors were?

My personal favorite are the people of Ozone Park (Queens, NY). Most of these people gladly purchased homes adjacent to JFK International Airport (one of the busier in the world) then complain about the jet noise.

Is this the right solution

[Fjord]

Noise is not just a nuisance, it's a health issue. And victims are often least able to afford quieter surrounds.

A WHO report estimated that 40 percent of EU residents -- 150 million people -- are exposed to road traffic noise exceeding 55 decibels and that over 30 percent suffer noise levels at night that disturb sleep.

I understand that these people can't afford sound proofing, but are earplugs really that far out of reach for them? If my sleep was disturbed by cars outside, I would buy some.

Re:Rich country?

[Noryungi]

why punish the person who investigated his purchase first and already accounted for soundproofing in his expenditures.

Maybe I was not clear enough in my answer. What I was trying to point out is that a lot of buildings in Europe are old to very old and never incorporated sound-proofing at all.

It's not a stupid decision to buy an old house or a flat in an old building: sometimes, it's just really hard to find a modern building, either downtown or in the suburbs.

In any case, giving a tax break to X to put sound-proofing materials is not "punishing" Y for purchasing a sound-proofed home. It just means that X now has enough money to sound-proof his/her home, while Y has lost nothing.

This is not a case of the government bailing out someone who has made a bad decision: this is a case of the government recognizing that some cities are too noisy (because they are/were not designed with cars in mind) and giving citizens incentives to sound-proof their homes. It sounds to me like a good investment.

Finally, please remember that taxes are very high in Europe. So giving tax breaks to promote certain beneficial policies makes sense...

Re:Rich country?

[jhunsake]

Well, ok, then the NYC government should be addressing the problem, not the US government.