Strategic level assessment of the health effects of transport noise

TL;DRAbstract

Noise generated by surface and air transport is routinely considered in project-based environmental assessments. Sophisticated tools are utilised in prediction, noise mitigation, and assessment of noise impacts. These estimate human annoyance – even though there is a well-documented range of health effects of transport noise beyond annoyance. Focus on “annoyance” alone has had two important consequences. Firstly, it tends to have little traction with decision-makers. Secondly, despite the availability of assessment tools at the project level, there has been little consideration of transport noise at strategic levels. The extent of annoyance is a useful criterion in choosing between alternative highway routes at the project level, but not to assess impact of, say, area-wide transport options. This has now changed. Accumulated evidence regarding health effects of environmental noise has been published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe as initial guidance for quantitative risk assessm

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