Evaluation of Traffic Noise Level: A Residential Area Case Study

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized environmental noise as harmful pollution that causes adverse psychosocial and physiologic effects on human health.Motorized vehicles are a major source of noise pollution.It is a universal phenomenon, and it has grown to the point that it has become a major concern for the public and policymakers.The aim of this paper, therefore, is to investigate the traffic noise levels during peak and off-peak hours and contributing factors such as traffic volume, heavy-vehicle speed, and metrological factors, such as temperature, humidity, and wind speed, in a selected residential area in Kuwait.An expressway, a major arterial road, and a collector street were the three types of roads that were chosen for this study.Other sources of noise were also considered.All the measurements were conducted simultaneously.The results showed that the traffic noise levels were over the allowable limit on all the chosen types of roads.The average equivalent noise levels (LAeq) for the expressway, the major arterial road, and the collector street were 74.2 dB(A), 70.47 dB(A), and 60.84 dB(A), respectively.In addition, a positive correlation coefficient between traffic noise versus traffic volume and between traffic noise versus 85th percentile speed was obtained.However, there was no significant relation in metrological factors.Abnormal vehicle noise due to poor maintenance or user-enhanced exhaust noise was found to be one of the highest factors that affected the overall traffic noise readings.