EFFECTS OF SITE SELECTED VARIABLES ON HUMAN RESPONSES TO TRAFFIC NOISE .1. TYPE OF HOUSING BY TRAFFIC NOISE-LEVEL

The results on a field study of human response to traffic noise along with the general methodology for the entire study are reported. The research performed by carefully selecting subjects at sites that have the desired values of selected site variables. Human response measurements are obtained from interviewer administered structured questionnaires and are spatially and temporally coincident with the noise measurements. Noise measurements are obtained from 6 days of rapidly sampled recordings. The effects of traffic noise level and housing type are considered. Although traffic noise level is the major correlate of the intensity of negative responses to traffic noise, traffic noise level by housing type interaction effects were observed and attributed to the accuracy of perceiving the vehicle flow rate and day-night noise level differences. Spontaneous responses support the validity of the elicited responses.