STUDY ON PERSONAL NOISE EXPOSURE IN CHINA

A survey of personal noise exposure has been in progress in Beijing, C hina, since 1989 and the data on 221 subjects have been collected so f ar. In the survey, personal noise exposure measurements over one day a nd night were carried out. At the same time, personal major activity s chedules, questionnaires concerning personal living and working enviro nments, and reactions to environmental noise were investigated. On the basis of these data, personal noise exposure for residents of Beijing has been studied. The main factors that affect the noise exposure of a person are discovered. The L(eq24) values of 86% of subjects are hig her than 70 dB and the average noise exposure level L(eq24) is 75.6 dB for residents of Beijing. The classification of the personal noise ex posure patterns depends on age, sex and, especially, occupation. The p ersonal noise exposure pattern varies with time of day, and it depends mainly on the noise levels of personal activities in daily life. The greatest exposure to noise is during work activities. Furthermore, per sonal noise exposure patterns have been compared with the environmenta l noise level measured in Beijing in 1986.