New noise pollution map

[seven]

Maps showing the level of noise from industries, airports, road and rail networks in are being published today. How does noise affect your life?

Noise maps of 23 urban areas in England found that Newcastle-upon-Tyne is the noisiest urban area in the country, with residents facing severe hearing and health problems. The city topped a traffic noise table with 80.4 decibels - roughly equivalent of a loud alarm clock ringing constantly.

Tranquil Torquay, however, on the south coast, emerged as the quietest at just 60 decibels.

Report author Professor Deepak Prasher said noise is not only annoying, but can raise stress levels and threaten health and well-being.

What is your city like? What other urban noises drive you mad?

Defra, Noise Mapping England

[spadlet]

Originally Posted by seven

What is your city like? What other urban noises drive you mad?

They missed out the building works next door which are far noisiers than the road, also the road works which are the road's attempts to compete with the building work (hopefully it'll keep the rent down though). I'm looking forward to being able to hear the busses drive past.

[Wobs]

Originally Posted by spadlet

They missed out the building works next door which are far noisiers than the road, also the road works which are the road's attempts to compete with the building work (hopefully it'll keep the rent down though). I'm looking forward to being able to hear the busses drive past.

I would point out that road works are temporary, but in Sheffield's case I not so sure LOL.

Obviously, not that accurate in real life, but a rough guide. What it doesn't include is noise on a Saturday night from all the bars on our street, which will be significent this Saturday as Hull City is about to play their most important match ever at Wemb-er-ley! (says none footie fan).

Its surpising how close you can live to a source of noise and not hear if the buildings are facing the right way. We can't hear a lot of noise from the main road when we're in the backyard. But if the wind is in the right direction we can easily hear the cheers at KC stadium.

Also of course, some noises are more annoying than others, and the human will tune into certain noises, and affect a persons health if they're annoying enough, even if its a low level noise.

Cheers for the link though, as I can compare it to an actual survey we carried out a few years ago.

[altyfc]

Unfortunately, the postcode you entered is not within one of the agglomerations mapped during this round, and therefore there are no interactive maps to display for this area. The postcode of interest to you may however be close to an area mapped for major roads or railways outside of agglomerations. Please see below for information on these maps and how to download them. If you entered only the first part of a postcode, you may want to try entering a full postcode, as it could just fall within a mapped area.

How can they say 'such-and-such' is the noisiest/quietest if they've not actually mapped everywhere?

[sparky]

Being woken in the dead of night by noisy neighbours blasting out music could soon be a thing of the past. Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an "acoustic cloak", which could make objects impervious to sound waves. This could be used to build sound-proof homes, advanced concert halls or stealth warships.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Experts unveil 'cloak of silence'

Hmm.

[suz1002]

Sound proof homes == horrible idea. Frankly, I want to wake up when I hear that tail tail sound of twister closing in on my house, or that emergency siren system that goes off when the local nuclear plant is going to blow. Sound proofing your home could very well be a bad idea.

[wolranes]

For anybody that has lived next door to a teenage drummer this is a godsend. Bring it on Hip Hop fans I'm proofed.

[Wobs]

Originally Posted by seven

Maps showing the level of noise from industries, airports, road and rail networks in are being published today. How does noise affect your life?

Noise maps of 23 urban areas in England found that Newcastle-upon-Tyne is the noisiest urban area in the country, with residents facing severe hearing and health problems. The city topped a traffic noise table with 80.4 decibels - roughly equivalent of a loud alarm clock ringing constantly.

Tranquil Torquay, however, on the south coast, emerged as the quietest at just 60 decibels.

Report author Professor Deepak Prasher said noise is not only annoying, but can raise stress levels and threaten health and well-being.

What is your city like? What other urban noises drive you mad?

Defra, Noise Mapping England

I'd just like to point out that while it shows where the main sources of noise are for different sectors, that's about as far as it goes.

If you enter industrial sources, and put in a post code, it will show where the industrial noises are. But it also shows some fancy shapes to indicate where the most noise travels to from those sources. This is a nonesense.

Other than the obvious point of wind direction (environemental noise surveys must be carried out with little or no wind), the shapes bare no resemblence to reality, as our site is does not corresond to the noise levels indicated and the directions of the highest levels are wrong, as I did an environmental noise survey some years ago here. The map is just a guess as to what it does, and has not been subject to any real montioring or detailed analysis despite the implication of the maps.

Its a perfect example of where one must be careful of implied accuracy.