A FIELD SURVEY ON EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE TO NOISE AND VIBRATION FROM RAILWAY TRAFFIC .1. ANNOYANCE AND ACTIVITY DISTURBANCE EFFECTS

The paper presents some of the results from held investigations on eff ects of exposure to noise and vibration from railway traffic. Effects on annoyance, sleep disturbances and psyche-social well-being, as well as disturbance of different activities, were evaluated by a postal qu estionnaire. Effects on sleep and psyche-social well-being will be pre sented in a second paper. Fifteen different sites located near railway lines in Sweden were investigated. The study covered areas with diffe rent number of trains per 24 hours in areas with strong vibration exce eding 2 mm/s, caused by the railway traffic, as measured in the buildi ngs, as well as areas without vibration, or with vibration weaker than 1 mm/s: 2833 persons between 18 and 75 years of age participated in t he study. The results show that railway noise is experienced as more a nnoying in areas in which there is simultaneous exposure to vibration from railway traffic. Disturbance of communication was the most freque ntly mentioned annoyance reaction, outside and inside the dwellings, e specially in areas with a high number of trains per 24 hours. To ensur e an acceptable environmental quality where less than 5% of the expose d population is rather or very annoyed by railway noise, these noise l evels must be below 80 dB L(dmax) and below 55 L(eq) respectively in a reas without vibration. In areas with simultaneous exposure to strong vibration, actions against vibration or a greater distance between the houses and the railway line is needed, corresponding to a 10 dB(A) lo wer noise level than in areas without vibration. (C) 1996 Academic Pre ss Limited