Assessment of Traffic Noise Pollution in Residential Neighbourhood of Lagos, Nigeria

Noise pollution is unwanted, unpleasant and dangerous to health and well being of people and communities. Road traffic is a major source of environmental noise exposure in cities across the world. This study assesses traffic noise pollution in residential neighbourhood of Alimosho local government Lagos, Nigeria. The study measured traffic noise and conducted volumetric analysis of traffic flow and survey on effect of traffic noise on residents health. The result of volumetric analysis indicate that there were more commercial vehicles plying the roads than private cars which trigger high traffic noise in the residential neighbourhood. Furthermore, the traffic noise levels show that the mean traffic noise is 71.70dBA which is above the recommended standard 55dBA for outdoor during daytime in a residential neighbourhood. The study also reveals that traffic noise peaks in the afternoon and as distance increases from the traffic noise source, the intensity of noise levels reduces. Finally, the study found that traffic noise causes headache, annoyance, speech interference and lack of concentration in that order to the residents living in the study area. The study concludes that the level of traffic noise in the study area is high and dangerous to the health of the residents. This calls for policy actions that will reduce traffic noise in residential neighbourhoods.