An integrated prediction model for traffic noise in an urban area

Traffic noise is an inevitable phenomenon associated with traffic operation in urban areas. The increasing sensitivity to environmental issues leads researchers to study and formulate appropriate models to analyze the correlations between environment-infrastructure-man. In this area of research attention has been paid to issues related to noise pollution, how is attested to by the vast amount of literature on the subject. In particular, the traffic noise of motor vehicles, as main source in urban areas, makes up part of general environment problem which inflicts serious damage to the health of human beings and lowers their labor productivity. Due the increasing number of vehicles circulating in the big cities, the noise pollution becomes a problem because of the constant traffic on the roads makes some places reach the highest level of noise. Therefore, the control of traffic noise has become a matter of major concern for communities trying to maintain a satisfactory environment in which to live and work. To ensure a high quality environment, methods for prediction the urban traffic noise are necessary tools. In order to modeling traffic noise and selecting corresponding noise control measures it is necessary to know functional relationships between noise emission and certain numbers of traffic parameters. The purpose of this article is to study the situation in Crotone (Italy) and develop a model to predict the noise based on the data collected. The result of this research will contribute to the analyze the traffic noise in urban center as well to develop a tool to help on treatments of this urban issue, allowing future decisions to reduce the noise pollution.