COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF TRAFFIC NOISE INSULATION FOR HOUSES. MOTOR VEHICLE AND TRAFFIC NOISE; AUSTRALIAN ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY 1985 CONFERENCE, PROCEEDINGS, 24 TO 26 NOVEMBER, 1985, LEURA GARDENS, NSW

Most houses facing onto arterial roads in major cities are significantly impacted by road traffic noise. This problem cannot be solved in the short to medium term through vehicle noise controls. Where an immediate reduction in the noise impact of arterial roads is required the only realistic option is to retrofit noise insulation measures to the houses affected. This paper uses cost-benefit analysis to derive the optimum level of traffic noise insulation for a particular house believed to be typical of many facing arterial roads in Australia. The paper has identified six stages of traffic noise insulation for houses and shown that the application of five of these stages to a particular house can be justified on the basis of cost benefit analysis. The total cost of these five stages is $4825 dollars (1983 costs). To apply this package of noise insulation stages to all the houses in Melbourne exposed to more than 68 db(a) L10 (18 hour) would cost nearly two thirds the annual budget for roadworks for the entire state of Victoria. The number of the covering record for the conference is IRRD 283994. (TRRL)