Prevalence of daytime noise exposure over 55 dB(A) in EU

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Moderator:Erkki Kuusisto (see all)

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Scope

What % of the EU population is exposed to daytime noise levels exceeding 55 dB?

Here, noise exposure is expressed as A-weighted long-term equivalent continuous sound pressure level, assessed outdoors during daytime (e.g. L_{Aeq 07-22}), and for a particular noise source.

Note: Since both the size of EU and typical noise exposures have expanded over time, the actual figures depend on the year of assessment. For the purpose of this variable, approximate data is sufficient.

The level of 55 dB(A) is one of the guideline values for community noise as defined by the WHO. The level of 55 dB(A) is deemed to protect the majority of inhabitants from experiencing "serious annoyance" during the daytime and evening.

Definition

Data

Data from year 2000 obtained from CE Delft's 2007 report "Traffic noise reduction in Europe" ^[1].

Older data, describing pre-1999 situation, obtained from WHO's "Guidelines for community noise" ^[2].

In the above sources, little information is given regarding the method using which the prevalence estimates were obtained.

EEA 2009: Transport at a crossroads. (TERM 2008: indicators tracking transport and environment in the European Union.) EEA Report No 3/2009

Dependencies

None.

Unit

%

Formula

-

Result

Data source	Target area	Year	Noise metric	Road noise	Rail noise
CE Delft	EU-25	2000		about 44 %	about 7 %
WHO	"EU"	pre-1999		about 40 %
EEA 2009	EU	2007 (?; probably END round 1)	L_den	55 % of population living in agglomerations with > 250 000 inhabitants

Keywords

noise zone
noise criteria
EU population

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 den Boer LC, Schroten A (2007). Traffic noise reduction in Europe. Health effects, social costs and technical and policy options to reduce road and rail traffic noise. CE Delft. (Exposure data in Ch. 2.5)
↑ WHO (1999). Guidelines for community noise. Edited by Birgitta Berglund, Thomas Lindvall, Dietrich H Schwela. (Exposure data in Executive Summary, p. iii)

Related files

Prevalence of daytime noise exposure over 55 dB(A) in EU. Opasnet . [1]. Accessed 20 Dec 2024.

[CEDelft-1] 1.0 ^1.1 den Boer LC, Schroten A (2007). Traffic noise reduction in Europe. Health effects, social costs and technical and policy options to reduce road and rail traffic noise. CE Delft. (Exposure data in Ch. 2.5)

[WHO-2] WHO (1999). Guidelines for community noise. Edited by Birgitta Berglund, Thomas Lindvall, Dietrich H Schwela. (Exposure data in Executive Summary, p. iii)

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[2]