Around 1.1 billion people worldwide are at risk of hearing loss due to exposure to high levels of noise!
Noise pollution is a growing problem in urban environments, as cities become more crowded, and transportation and construction continue to increase. This urban territorial phenomenon is caused by a variety of sources such as traffic, public transportation, industries, outdoor entertainment events …etc. and exposure to these high levels of noise can cause a range of health problems, including hearing loss, sleep disturbances, and increased stress levels. Long-term exposure to noise pollution has also been linked to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. In fact, a study by the European Environment Agency found that noise pollution is responsible for more than 10,000 premature deaths each year in Europe alone.
Noise Annoyance: Introducing the Metrics and Factors Involved!
One of the major consequences of noise pollution is annoyance, which is a subjective and emotional response to noise, this multifaceted phenomenon depends on several factors such as noise level, duration, source type, urban morphology, individual’s characteristics...etc.
In cities like Nice, where a high population density and heavy traffic can exacerbate noise levels, noise pollution has become a major concern for residents pushing the city to move forward and take actions to address this instance by installing the largest network of monitoring stations in France with over 40 static and mobile sensors, and that’s where GreenMov project comes in to make use of the data generated from these stations by standardizing and harmonizing them into a format that can be used in different services in smart cities and other domains such as the noise annoyance calculation and prediction services in our case.
Noise Annoyance: Understanding the phenomena!
While annoyance is a subjective experience that is difficult to quantify, understanding the causes and effects of noise pollution annoyance in urban environments is essential for developing effective strategies to mitigate this problem and improve the well-being of urban dwellers.
There are multiple measures and formulas that can be used to assess the impact of noise on individuals and communities, in the GreenMov project level, a customized method was adopted, consisting of 4 main parameters: Noise level, Noise source, Type of area and average individuals age level, for each parameter we assigned sub-parameters with respective weights called values, these values represent the impact of the parameter on the overall annoyance level.
The overall annoyance level is then calculated using this formula:
Noise level correspanding value + Average age level value + Noise source value + type of area value
= Noise annoyance level
The value obtained is a a number from 1 to 10 that quantifies the noise annoyance from very calm to very dangerous according to this table:
| Noise annoyance | Very calm | Calm | Good | Acceptable | Medium | Moderate | Annoying | Very annoying | Unsupportable | Dangerous | Very Dangerous |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | 0-1 | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-4 | 4-5 | 5-6 | 6-7 | 7-8 | 8-9 | 9-10 | Over 10 |
Noise Annoyance service
Enhancing urban mobility! Not only is the calculation of noise annoyance crucial for understanding the impact of noise pollution on individuals and communities, but it is also an essential tool for predicting this impact.
The GreenMov project offers noise annoyance prediction services, but also includes other predictive services such as air quality and traffic prediction. These predictive capabilities, in conjunction with shared bike availability and public transportation information, enable the generation of personalized mobility recommendations for both users and decision takers seeking to reduce noise pollution, improve air quality, or regulate traffic within the city.