Advertisement

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment

, Volume 186, Issue 10, pp 6193–6206 | Cite as

2Loud?: Community mapping of exposure to traffic noise with mobile phones

  • Simone LeaoEmail author
  • Kok-Leong Ong
  • Adam Krezel
Article
First Online:

Abstract

Despite ample medical evidence of the adverse impacts of traffic noise on health, most policies for traffic noise management are arbitrary or incomplete, resulting in serious social and economic impacts. Surprisingly, there is limited information about citizen’s exposure to traffic noise worldwide. This paper presents the 2Loud? mobile phone application, developed and tested as a methodology to monitor, assess and map the level of exposure to traffic noise of citizens with focus on the night period and indoor locations, since sleep disturbance is one of the major triggers for ill health related to traffic noise. Based on a community participation experiment using the 2Loud? mobile phone application in a region close to freeways in Australia, the results of this research indicates a good level of accuracy for the noise monitoring by mobile phones and also demonstrates significant levels of indoor night exposure to traffic noise in the study area. The proposed methodology, through the data produced and the participatory process involved, can potentially assist in planning and management towards healthier urban environments.

Keywords

2Loud? Traffic noise Mobile phones 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

This research was co-funded by the City of Boroondara (Victoria, Australia) and Deakin University. We would like to acknowledge the valuable assistance in research provided by Dr Anita Peerson and the students Leigh Giannopoulos, Luciana Reis Fernandes and Anh Vu Nguyen. Special thanks to all participants who voluntarily engaged in the project. We also would like to thank David Pegg, cartographer at Geomatic Technologies, and the anonymous reviewers for their revision of the text and valuable comments. This project was approved by Deakin University’ Ethics Committee (Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment) on the 10 April 2013 (STEC-6-2013-LEAO).

References

  1. ABS, Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Population by age and sex, Regions of Australia, 2011. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/3235.0~2011~Main+Features~Victoria. Accessed at 01 May 2013.
  2. Ahrstom, E., Hadzibajramovic, E., Holmes, M., & Svenson, H. (2006). Effects of road traffic noise on sleep: Studies on children and adults. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 26, 116–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Argarwal, S., & Swami, B. L. (2011). Road traffic noise, annoyance and community health survey—a case study for an Indian city. Noise and Health, 13, 272–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. AS, Australian Standard. (1990). AS1259: 1990 Acoustics – sound level meters. Sydney, Australia: Standards Australia International Ltd.Google Scholar
  5. AS, Australian Standard. (1997). AS1055.1:1997, Acoustics – description and measurement of environmental noise Part 1: General procedures. Homebush, Australia: Standards Association of Australia.Google Scholar
  6. AS/NZS, Australian and New Zealand Standards (2000). AS/NZS2107: 2000, Acoustics – recommended design sound levels and reverberation times for building interiors, Standards Australia International Ltd, Sydney, Australia and Standards New Zealand, Wellington, NZ.Google Scholar
  7. AustRoads (2005). Modelling, measuring and mitigating road traffic noise. AustRoads Research Report, AP-R277/05. Sydney, NSW, Australia.Google Scholar
  8. Babisch, W. (2006). Transportation noise and cardiovascular risk: updated review and synthesis of epidemiological studies indicate that the evidence has increased. Noise and Health, 8, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Babisch, W. (2008). Road traffic noise and cardiovascular risk. Noise and Health, 10, 27–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Babisch, W. (2011). Cardiovascular effects of noise. Noise and Health, 13, 201–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Bendokiene, I., Grazuleviciene, R., & Dedele, A. (2011). Risk of hypertension related to road traffic noise among reproductive-age women. Noise and Health, 13(55), 371–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Bhosale, B. J., Late, A., Nalawade, P. M., Chavan, S. P., & Mule, M. B. (2010). Studies on assessment f traffic noise level in Aurangabad city, India. Noise and Health, 12(48), 195–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Bluhm, G., & Eriksson, C. (2011). Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: research in Sweden. Noise and Health, 13(52), 212–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Bluhm, G., Nordling, E., & Berglind, N. (2004). Road traffic noise and annoyance—an increasing environmental health problem. Noise and Health, 6(24), 43–49.Google Scholar
  15. Bodin, T., Albin, M., Ardö, J., Stroh, E., Östergren, P.-O., & Björk, J. (2009). Road traffic noise and hypertension: results from a cross-sectional public health survey in southern Sweden. Environmental Health, 8, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Brankoljevic, B., Belojevic, G., Paunovic, K., & Stojanov, V. (2006). Road traffic noise and sleep disturbances in an urban population: cross-sectional study. Croatian Medical Journal, 47, 125–133.Google Scholar
  17. Clark, C., & Stansfield, S. A. (2007). The effect of transportation noise on health and cognitive development: a review of the recent evidence. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 20, 145–158.Google Scholar
  18. Conrad, C., & Hilchey, K. G. (2011). A review of citizen science and community-based environmental monitoring: issues and opportunities. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 176(1–4), 273–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. D’Hondt, E., Stevens, M. and Jacobs, A., (2012) Participatory noise mapping works! An evaluation of participatory sensing as an alternative to standard techniques for environmental monitoring. Pervasive and Mobile Computing, Available on line from 4 October 2012.Google Scholar
  20. European Centre for Environment and Health - ECEH. (2007). Night noise guidelines (NNGL) for Europe: final implementation report. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.Google Scholar
  21. European Environmental Agency - EEA (2009) Transport at a crossroads, TERM 2008: indicators tracking transport and environment in the European Union. EEA Report 03/2009. Copenhagen, Denmark.Google Scholar
  22. Goines, L., & Hagler, L. (2007). Noise pollution: a modern plague. Southern Medical Journal, 100(3), 287–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Goldman J, Shilton K, Burke J, Estrin D, Hansen M, Ramanathan N, Reddy S, Samanta V and Srivastiva M. (2009) Participatory sensing: a citizen-powered approach to illuminating the patterns that shape our world. White Paper, Foresight & Governance Project, 2009.Google Scholar
  24. Hong, J., Kim, J., Lim, C., Kim, K., & Lee, S. (2010). The effects of long-term exposure to railway and road traffic noise on subjective sleep disturbance. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, 128(5), 2829–2835.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Ingle, S. T., Pachpande, B. G., Wagh, N. D., Patel, V. S., & Attarde, S. B. (2007). Assessment of daily noise exposure and prevalence of hearing loss in the shopkeepers working near National Highway No.5: a case study of Jalgaon City. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 3, 54–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Ising, H., & Ising, M. (2002). Chronic cortisol increases in the first half of the night caused by road traffic noise. Noise and Health, 4(16), 13–21.Google Scholar
  27. Kanjo, E. (2010). NoiseSpy: a real-time mobile phone platform for urban noise monitoring and mapping. Mobile Networks and Applications, 15(4), 562–574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Kim, R., & van den Berg, M. (2010). Summary of night noise guidelines for Europe. Noise and Health, 12(47), 61–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Li, H.-J., Yu, W.-B., Lu, J.-Q., Zeng, L., Li, N., & Zhao, Y.-M. (2008). Investigation of road-traffic nose and annoyance in Beijing: a cross-sectional study of 4th Ring Road. Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health, 63(1), 27–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Maisonneuve, N., Stevens, M., Niessen, M. E., & Steels, L. (2009). NoiseTube: measuring and mapplicationing noise pollution with mobile phones. In Athanasiadis et al. (Eds.), Information Technologies in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science and Engineering (pp. 215–228). Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
  31. Michaud, D. S., Keith, S. E., & McMurchy, D. (2008). Annoyance and disturbance of daily activities from road traffic noise in Canada. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, 123(2), 784–792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Miedema, H., Janssen, S., & Kim, R. (2011). Chapter 6: Environmental noise and annoyance. Burden of disease from environmental noise: quantification of healthy life years lost in Europe (pp. 91–98). Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe and JRC European Commission.Google Scholar
  33. Moser, G. M. (2013). Handbook of engineering acoustics. London, UK: Springer.Google Scholar
  34. Ndrepepa, A., & Twardella, D. (2011). Relationship between noise annoyance from road traffic noise and cardiovascular diseases: a meta-analysis. Noise and Health, 13(52), 251–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Niemann, H., Bonnefoy, X., Braubacvh, M., Hecht, K., Maschke, C., Rodrigues, C., & Robbe, l. N. (2006). Noise-induced annoyance and morbidity results from the pan-European LARES study. Noise and Health, 8(31), 63–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Öhrström, E., Barregård, L., Andersson, E., Skånberg, A., Svensson, H. and Ängerham, P. (2008). Annoyance due to single and combined sound exposure from railway and road traffic. NVB. July: 189-201.Google Scholar
  37. Passchier-Vermeer, W., & Passchier, W. F. (2000). Noise exposure and public health. Environmental Health Perspectives, 108(Suppl 1), 123–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Phan, H. Y. T., Yano, T., Sato, T., & Nishimura, T. (2010). Characteristics of road traffic noise in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Applied Acoustics, 71, 479–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Pirrera, S., De Valck, E., & Cluydts, R. (2010). Nocturnal road traffic noise: a review of its assessment and consequences on sleep and health. Environment International, 36, 492–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Rana, K. R., Chou, C. T., Kanhere, S. S., Bulusu, N. and Hu, W. (2010) Ear-phone: an end-to-end participatory urban noise mapplicationing system. In Proceedings of the 9th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, Pages 105-116, Stockholm, Sweden, April 12-16, 2010.Google Scholar
  41. Santini, S., Ostermaier, B. and Adelman, R. (2009). On the use of sensor nodes and mobile phones for the assessment of noise pollution levels in urban environments. INSS, The 6th International Conference on Networked Sensing Systems, Pages 1-8, Pittsburgh, USA, 17019 June 2009.Google Scholar
  42. Seonga, J. C., Parkb, T. H., Kob, J. H., Changb, S. I., Kimc, M., Hotc, J. B., & Mehdid, M. R. (2011). Modeling of road traffic noise and estimated human exposure in Fulton County, Georgia, USA. Environment International, 37(8), 1336–1341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Sørensen, M., Hvidberg, M., Hoffman, B., Andersen, Z. J., Nordsboorg, R. B., Lillelund, K. G., Jakobsen, J., Tjønneland, A., Overvard, K., & Raaschou-Nielsen, O. (2011). Exposure to road traffic and railway noise and associations with blood pressure and self-reported hypertension: a cohort study. Environmental Health, 10(92), 1–11.Google Scholar
  44. Stansfield, S. A., Berglund, B., Lopez-Barrio, I., Fischer, P., Öhrstöm, E., Haines, M. M., Head, J., Hygge, S., van Kamp, I., Berry, B. F., & on behalf of the RANCH study team. (2005). Aircraft and road traffic noise and children’s cognition and health: a cross-national study. Lancet, 365, 1942–1249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Van Gerven, P. W. M., Vos, H., Van Boxtel, M. P. J., Janssen, S. A., & Miedema, H. M. E. (2009). Annoyance from environmental noise across the lifespan. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, 126(1), 187–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Van Kempen, E. (2011). Cardiovascular effects of environmental noise: research in The Netherlands. Noise and Health, 13(52), 221–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. World Health Organization – WHO. (2009). Night noise guidelines for Europe, WHO Regional Office for Europe. Denmark: Copenhagen.Google Scholar
  48. World Health Organization – WHO, Regional Office for Europe (2010). Burden of disease from environmental noise: practical guidance. Report on a working group meeting 14 - 15 October 2010. CopenhagenGoogle Scholar
  49. Zaharna, M., & Guilleminault, C. (2010). Sleep, noise and health: Review. Noise and Health, 12(47), 64–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Deakin UniversityGeelongAustralia
  2. 2.Deakin UniversityBurwoodAustralia

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options