Article,
A survey of urban noise annoyance in a large Brazilian city: the importance of a subjective analysis in conjunction with an objective analysis
Environmental Impact Assessment Review, (2003)
Abstract
This study describes the reaction to environmental noise of the population
of Curitiba (1.6 million inhabitants). Out of 1000 distributed forms,
860 were returned. The main isolated noise sources revealed by the
survey as disturbing were traffic (73%) and neighbors (38%). As a
class, neighborhood noise was pointed out as the most disturbing
type of noise as 100% of the surveyed people indicated at least one
of the items belonging to this class: neighbors, animals, sirens,
civil construction, religion temples, night clubs, toys and domestic
electric appliances. The main outcomes of exposure to noise were:
irritability (58%), difficulty to concentrate (42%), sleeping disorders
(20%) and headaches (20%). In this survey, the importance of the
realization of objective surveys, in other words, noise emission
measurements in conjunction with the subjective evaluation of the
reaction of the urban population to the environmental noise, is also
discussed. The present survey shows that in the subjective evaluation
performed in the city of Curitiba, the perception of the population
is that the urban noise has increased. On the other hand, another
study conducted in the same city, where only the noise emission levels
were evaluated, has showed a decrease on the urban noise.
