Methodological proposal for characterisation of the impact of traffic noise upon human health from noise maps

Abstract

Every day, more and more vehicles are put into service around the world. We now know that a motor vehicle has a significant direct or indirect impact on the environment and human health over its life cycle. In this study we will focus on the impact of noise generated by light (cars) and heavy (trucks) vehicles on human health. To date, many aspects come into play when considering the life cycle analysis of road traffic vehicles such as the potential for climate change or the depletion of fossil resources. However, the impact of noise on human health related to road traffic is still not taken into consideration despite previous research on the subject. The objective of this work is then to propose an example of a methodology that highlights the importance of integrating the impact of noise due to road traffic in the LCA. In our study, we took as an example the city of Castellón de la Plana in Spain, the place where the project was written. However, the methodology presented should be general in order to be reproducible throughout the major cities of the world, in order to provide additional support for as many existing methods as possible. In this work, strategic noise maps will be used as they constitute a major source of information previously collected in terms of noise emission, in accordance with the European Directive 2002/49/EC, as well as the demography of the city studied. It will then be necessary to be able to combine the noise emitted by road traffic with the population exposed to this noise. In our case, we will try to carry it out by using estimated data that are as accurate as possible.