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A noise reduction strategy was proposed for Panyu District of Guangzhou City based on its traffic noise map, which considered both road and railway traffic noise. Commercial software was applied to compute the noise maps with and without noise barriers based on the field traffic flow measurements. Noise compliance maps were further developed to assess the effects of noise barriers on the quality of the sound environment. The change in populations exposed to unhealthy traffic noise with noise barriers was calculated, and the group noise indicators Gdn and Gnight, which indicate the populations of highly annoyed and sleep-disturbed people, were evaluated. The results showed that the traffic noise level was significantly decreased after the implementation of noise barriers. It was predicted that with the strategy of applying suitable noise barriers, the overall areas under heavy noise pollution could be reduced by 24.5 and 24.3 km2 during daytime and nighttime, respectively. Meanwhile, the total areas that could meet the regulated standard for noise levels were increased by 97.4, and 66.9 km2, corresponding to compliance rate increments of 18.38% and 12.62%, respectively, in daytime and nighttime. The results further revealed that the installation of noise barriers could significantly reduce the population of highly annoyed people, while the reduction of the population experiencing sleep disturbances was insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic noise is a major pollution problem in Hong Kong and many large cities throughout the world. Indeed, traffic noise and traffic flow patterns interact, however, there is a very little research effort studying it. To the best knowledge of the authors, the present research is the first on-site measurement study about the effect of a traffic signal on the noise level of moving vehicles. Various cases of "stop and go" and "non-stop" were considered in the traffic noise measurements, where the terms "stop and go" and "non-stop" represent a traffic road with and without traffic signals, respectively. The L10 and Leq noise levels were recorded and compared in the present study. From the results, it was found that the stop time and traffic flow are factors that also affect the sound level properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]