Modelling the Adverse Health Effects of Road Traffic Noise: A Case Study in Adana, Bulent Angin Boulevard

Year 2017, Volume: 12 Issue: 4, 325 - 333, 30.12.2017

Muzaffer Yucel Barış Kahveci , Deniz Colakkadioglu

Abstract

Environmental noise is a well-known source of pollution in urban areas
that can be described as an undesirable sound. According to the findings of the World Health Organization (WHO), noise
is the second largest environmental cause of health problems, just after the
impact of air quality. The
adverse effects of noise pollution on human health have been categorized under
6 groups by WHO: hearing impairment, sleep disturbance, social behavior
(annoyance, anger, depression etc.), cognitive
performance, cardiovascular and psychophysiological risks and work
performance. Main sources of noise
in urban areas include road, rail, and air traffic, industries, construction
and public work and the neighborhood. Not all noise can be called noise
pollution. In the context of main sources of noise in urban areas, traffic
noise has become the most
serious and common type of noise pollution. Bulent Angin Boulevard,
which is the subject of the research, is one of the roads with heavy traffic in
Adana. The research was executed in the pilot area extending to the 1 121 m
route of Bulent Angin Boulevard and 112,07 
ha area covering 500 m east and 500 m west of this route. In line with
the aim of the research, the first step has been to map Bulent Angin
Boulevard-induced environmental noise during daytime (07:^oo-19:^oo),
evening time (19:^oo-23:^oo) and night time (23:^oo-07:^oo)
by employing SoundPLAN 7.3 software. After that, traffic-induced noise
distribution maps were analyzed by threshold values stipulated by the
Regulation on Environmental Noise Assessment and Management that is compliance with
the European Union Directive on Environmental Noise (2002/49/EC) and noise
limits identified by WHO. As a result of the study, the adverse health effects
of the road traffic noise in the research area were determined by 11 noise
distribution maps and designated the ratio of population exposed to the noise. Three of these 11 maps were created according to
Regulation on Environmental Noise Assessment and Management; eight of them were
created according to noise limits identified by WHO (1 map for cognitive performance, 1 map for sleep
disturbance, 3 maps for social behavior (annoyance, anger, depression etc) and
3 maps for cardiovascular and psychophysiological risks).

Keywords

Adana, Noise mapping, Noise pollution

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