Measurements and prediction of road traffic noise along high-rise building facades in Athens

Constant exposure to traffic noise pollution can have significant impact on human health and well being. Occupants of high-rise buildings along noisy traffic arteries are severely affected. In an attempt to contribute to noise protection design of prospective high-rise buildings, traffic noise measurements and prediction using the CRTN (calculation of road traffic noise) model, were made along the facade of a high-rise building in central Athens. The aim was to test the accuracy of this model in predicting the vertical distribution (mapping) of traffic noise along such building facades, under the local urban characteristics of the Mediterranean capital. The predicted and measured noise levels were found to be highly coherent with each other, and their vertical distribution pattern, by and large, confirmed findings from earlier studies. Nevertheless, the predicted values had a tendency of underestimation, with a mean difference -2.2 dB(A) with reference to measured values. It is considered that this underestimation is associated mainly with a newly proposed feature of urban morphology, namely (local) geo-morphology. By and large, it can be inferred that the CRTN model is a useful tool, suitable for the prediction of traffic noise along high-rise building facades during their planning and design stage. The results represent a further step towards more general application of this model, as well as a contribution to the use of this model considering a wider number of urban features.