A meta-analysis of surveys into vibration annoyance from railway

The EU-project CargoVibes aims to describe the expected annoyance due to vibration among residents living near (freight) railway lines. Compared to the state of knowledge on the annoyance response to noise, relatively little is known about the relationship between vibration exposure and annoyance. Existing evaluation criteria in use are not consistent and not always based on relevant surveys. Although in several countries surveys were done on railway-induced vibration, the results are not readily comparable due to the use of different exposure metrics. In the present study, a meta-analysis was done on all available exposure-response datasets from railway vibration surveys, eight in total including two new surveys. A statistical method taking into account the multilevel structure of the sample was used, and a conversion matrix was developed that allows to convert different vibration metrics into each other. Despite differentiation in the annoyance response between studies, partly explained by source of vibration, an exposure-response relationship could be derived, showing the expected percentage ofresidents annoyed or highly annoyed at a given vibration level. This exposure-response relationship may form the basis of criteria for the evaluation of adverse eflects of railway vibration