Acoustic Assessment in Sensitive Areas Around Hospitals: Using Computational Modeling for Criticality Analysis

Population growth and the consequent increase in the vehicle fleet have made noise monitoring and analysis around hospitals essential. Complementary Law No. 218/98 of Maringá-PR establishes a 200-meter radius around hospitals, schools, and similar facilities, setting noise limits of 55 dB during the day and 45 dB at night. Prolonged exposure to high noise levels adversely affects physical and mental health, as well as overall well-being. The methodology will adopt criteria to identify the most critical areas, considering hospital locations, land use and occupation, road characteristics, intersections, traffic flow, and the absence of control devices such as speed cameras. Acoustic monitoring will comply with ABNT NBR 10151:2019, and the collected data will be used in computational modeling with the SoundPLAN(r) software, resulting in a criticality map. Thus, this study proposes a decision-support tool for managers, aiding in the identification of critical points and the implementation of mitigation strategies to protect hospital areas sensitive to noise, thereby contributing to environmental quality improvement.