Dose-response relationships for traffic noise and annoyance.

The annoyance due to road traffic noise was studied in 18 areas in five countries. A total of 1379 interviews was performed and noise measurements were made in each area. The relation between Leq and the extent of the population expressing that they were "very annoyed" was poor (rxy = 0.03). An augmentation of the number of heavy vehicles from 1000/24 hr up to greater than 3000/24 hr did not increase the extent of annoyance. The highest correlation was obtained for the maximum noise level. The dose-response relationship implies that the number of events above a certain limit will not increase the extent of annoyance: it is determined by the highest noise level from single vehicles. It is suggested that this model for the human reaction to environmental noise, which has now been demonstrated for aircraft, train, and traffic noise, should be considered for the establishment of standards.