The 33rd International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering Excess Attenuation of Road Traffic Noise by Detached Houses in the Residential Area

Abstract [451] In the “Environmental Quality Standards for Noise in Japan, ” the problem of environmental noise in areas facing to roads is evaluated by obtaining the numbers and the rates of the buildings at which noise levels exceed the environmental quality standards. In order to estimate noise distribution in the residential area facing to roads, it is necessary to grasp the excess attenuation by the buildings. The authors proposed in the previous study a simple method to predict the excess attenuation of road traffic noise by detached houses when the road is on the same level with that of the houses. However, there are lots of residential areas where are located around a low embankment road. In such residential areas, the noise would be expected to be higher. The purpose of this paper is to derive a new method to predict the excess attenuation of road traffic noise by detached houses when a road is a low embankment. A one-twentieth scale model experiment is performed. On the basis of the experimental results, to extend the authors ’ predicting method to be applicable when a road is a low embankment is examined, and then a simple procedure to compensate the noise increase caused by the increase of the height of a road is derived. The results of an additional experiment verify the validity of the proposed method.