A common indicator of effectiveness for roadside noise barriers is the reduction in A-weighted sound pressure level (LA). The present experimental study considered alternative indicators using an annoyance-reduction criterion. A large number of 8 s experimental sounds were created from binaural recordings conducted at various distances from a highway at a location with a 4.6 m high roadside barrier (barrier sounds) and at a location along the same road with no barrier (nonbarrier sounds). Eighteen listeners scaled the annoyance of the experimental sounds with the method of magnitude estimation. The barrier sounds recorded 10-45 m from the road and nonbarrier sounds recorded 50-200 m from the road were of similar LA. Despite this, the barrier sounds were found to be more annoying than the nonbarrier sounds. The annoyance difference corresponded to approximately a 3 dB increase in LA and was mainly related to the barrier sounds' higher relative level of low-frequency sound. This suggests that LA reduction may not be a valid indicator of the annoyance reduction caused by a noise barrier. The loudness level (ISO 532B) and a low-frequency corrected sound pressure level (LasteriskA) were found to be better than LA as indicators of the barrier's annoyance-reduction efficiency.
Evaluating roadside noise barriers using an annoyance-reduction criterion
Bewertung von Straßenlärmschutzwänden mit Hilfe eines Belästigungsminderungskriteriums
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ; 124 , 6 ; 3561-3567
2008
7 Seiten, 4 Bilder, 3 Tabellen, 31 Quellen
Article (Journal)
English
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