PERCEPTION OF TRAFFIC NOISE IN COMPARISON TO ACTUALLY MEASURED NOISE

The objective of this study was to assess to what extent the subjectiv e annoyance is influenced by the actually measured or calculated stree t traffic noise and by sociodemographic factors. In the study on air p ollution and health in Basle10 a representative sample of 1033 familie s with children up to five years were asked how they perceived street traffic noise. The extent of annoyance was assessed with a scale from 0 (no annoyance) to 10 (unbearably annoyed). The actual noise levels w ere taken from the official noise-register. Nearly 30% of the families were exposed to > 65 dB (A) in daytime. Immigrant families as well as participants with low education more frequently lived in streets with higher noise levels than Swiss families or participants with higher e ducation. 16.4% considered themselves heavily annoyed by traffic noise (scale 8-10). The proportion of heavily annoyed participants was posi tively correlated with the actual noise levels, the slope was steepest at a noise level between 60-65 dB(A). By means of a multiple regressi on it could be shown that, adjusting for education level and city dist rict, the actual noise level was the best predictor of subjective anno yance.