Initial steps for the determination of environmental noise quality—The perception-related evaluation of traffic noise

Directives call for actions against noise pollution and noise annoyance. But, how do we eliminate harmful effects including annoyance due to the exposure of environmental noise without understanding the perception and evaluation of environmental noise? How do we preserve environmental noise quality where it is good (Directive 2002/49/EC) without identifying descriptors for noise quality? Various soundscape approaches based on different methodologies have been developed in the past. But, the measurement procedures must be realizable without much effort in order to achieve acceptance from legislation. Therefore, procedures have to be developed that capture the complexity of human hearing, on the one hand, and are feasible with respect to economy and time, on the other hand. The European project Quiet City (6FP PL516420) is dealing with, among other aspects, vehicle pass-by noise as a typical environmental noise source and its evaluation. Results of the analysis based on subjective assessments and psychoacoustic analyses carried out with respect to the development of an annoyance index will be presented and discussed. Such an index will provide valuable information for effective improvement of noise quality. The final aim is to develop a descriptor valid for complete traffic noise scenarios predicting environmental noise quality adequately.