Transport noise

Transport is the cause of major environmental problems affecting our environment globally, nationally and locally in Waltham Forest. Petrol is a fossil fuel which produces carbon dioxide (CO2) which contributes to global warming (the greenhouse effect).
Vehicle emissions are also a major contributor to pollution in terms of carbon monoxide (CO), lead, nitrogen dioxide (NOx), benzene, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulates in the smoke. These pollutants alter the amount of ozone in the atmosphere which in turn affects human health (asthma and respiratory illnesses), and the well-being of animals and plant life. The noise and vibration generated by vehicle movements affect our quality of life. Roads account for one fifth of the land take in urban areas in Britain and some 40% of accidental deaths result from traffic accidents.
TaP has conducted a major Survey of local residents views which give significant weight to TaP’s views on traffic and pollution reduction and increasing importance of public Transport. The full report is attached as Appendix TaP A. Significant findings include "… 83% of respondents believe that our elected representatives should do more to control traffic." The letter we wrote (10th October 1998) to the chair of Environment committee, Eric Sizer, stated that "…. Lowering the speed limit would certainly make the roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists, young and old," and encouraging "… local authorities to take more responsibility for traffic management in order to reduce death and injury on our roads."
The format below is that all TaP’s identified Objectives (there are currently 26) are listed first by sector in the borough, set out as a summary. These are then followed by each objective or set of objectives listed with their associated projects, targets timescales, indicators, resources, barriers and pitfalls, and comments, as far as can be determined at this stage.

Social noise

The sources of neighborhood noise in order of number of complaints was amplified music, dogs, Domestic activities voices and car repairs. The loud music that children listen to on the radio, on stereos and earphones, in discos, and at concerts effect their hearing. Those kind of noise make people annoyance. Also People's ears would be hurt by these actions. Therefore people must protect themselves from the noise.
Noise is a prominent feature of the environment including noise from transport, industry and neighbours. Exposure to transport noise disturbs sleep in the laboratory, but not generally in field studies where adaptation occurs. Noise interferes in complex task performance, modifies social behaviour and causes annoyance. Studies of occupational and environmental noise exposure suggest an association with hypertension, whereas community studies show only weak relationships between noise and cardiovascular disease. Aircraft and road traffic noise exposure are associated with psychological symptoms but not with clinically defined psychiatric disorder. In both industrial studies and community studies, noise exposure is related to raised catecholamine secretion. In children, chronic aircraft noise exposure impairs reading comprehension and long-term memory and may be associated with raised blood pressure. Further research is needed examining coping strategies and the possible health consequences of adaptation to noise.

Industrial noise

Industrial noise pollution is an ever growing problem and its management is centred around many pieces of legislation, standards, guidance documents, etc. many of which frequently contradict each other. There are two main viewpoints, the more obvious of which is the quantification and control of a noise nuisance, usually in response to a complaint. Secondly, we have planning considerations where a potential nuisance or loss of amenity is anticipated and planning refusal or control conditions are imposed.
Noise-sensitive areas, i.e. the likely recipients of environmental noise, can be very varied: I have worked on environmental noise problems in offices, hover craft passenger decks, bird roosting sites, and shark aquariums. The vast majority of environmental noise problems, however, are associated with housing, particularly night time hours when peoples sleep may be disturbed. Sources of environmental noise are numerous but most can be covered by four main headings - Industrial Noise, Construction Noise, Leisure Noise, and Traffic Noise.
How Annoying is a Noise?
We can begin with the level of the noise - the louder it is the greater the risk of disturbance. The nature of the noise is also important e.g. a tonal sound (a hum, whine or whistle) will be more disturbing than a broad spread of frequencies (few would be disturbed by waves on the beach, even though it can be quite noisy). Intermittent noise can also attract attention beyond its true noise level, such as a thermostatically controlled chiller.
How disturbing a noise is will often be dependent on the amount of masking noise or background noise there is. One industrial noise standard, for instance, rates industrial noise by how much it exceeds background noise.
Numerous psychological effects should also be considered, not only in how we judge the noise, but in the choice of measurement and assessment methods. For a given noise level a lawn mower is likely to be less disturbing than a hi-fi played loudly with the windows open, simply because one will be regarded as reasonable while the other is less so. Other types of noise are inherently disturbing such as grinding, gun shots, dog barks, and the 90’s problem of the repetitive thump of modern dance music.
All this leaves us with very few clear, generic targets for the control of noise and much scope for arguments and debates, frequently in a courtroom. The good acoustic consultant, however, should be experienced enough and should have the appropriate range of analytical skills and tools to be guided by the various standards, etc. but also to disagree, modify, or interpret the standards if he or she feels that the situation is sufficiently unique to merit it.
Industrial Noise
BS 4142: 1990 "Rating Industrial Noise Affecting Mixed Residential and Industrial Areas" is the most important guidance document here and is the one most frequently used by environmental health officers to determine the degree of nuisance from a factory.
Basically, the alleged source of nuisance is measured (or predicted) and adjusted for disturbing features such as tones and intermittancy. This adjusted level is then compared with the background noise and a sliding scale from positively justified complaints to positively no justified complaints can then be applied.