Noise Mapping and Annoyance.

The EC has published a Green Paper on noise policy in the EU and has issued a directive on the assessment and reduction of environmental noise. This directive will make noise mapping mandatory for cities with at least 250.000 inhabitants. Due to the development in computer technology it is possible to calculate noise maps for large urban areas using the available data on buildings, ground profile, road and rail traffic. Examples for noise mapping are Birmingham (GB), Linz (A) and various German cities. Based on noise maps and empirical data on the correlation between annoyance and noise levels annoyance maps for different sources (rail, road, aircraft) can be calculated. Under the assumption that the annoyance for the different sources are only weakly correlated, a combined annoyance map can be calculated. In a second step using the distribution of the population the actual number of annoyed people can be evaluated. This analysis can be used, for example, to identify noise hot spots and to assess the impact of major traffic projects - roads, airports- on the noise situation as well as the impact on the population. Furthermore, the combined annoyance maps can be used to investigate on health effects and to check whether or not empirical correlations between annoyance and noise levels are sufficiently correct.