Study on the correlation between noise perception and annoyance level of residents living near the railway

Jinglun Ma 1 School of Architecture, Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology No. 66 West Dazhi Street, Harbin, China Yue Wu 2 School of Architecture, Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology No. 66 West Dazhi Street, Harbin, China Qi Meng 3 School of Architecture, Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology No. 66 West Dazhi Street, Harbin, China

ABSTRACT In recent years, the rapid development of railway transportation in China has resulted a complex acoustic environment in residential areas near railway, where noise and vibration from train operation have an impact on human health. Therefore, in this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted on the acoustic environment of residential areas near railway using subjective evaluation, and the correlation between residents' noise notice and annoyance levels was investigated. The results show that there is a significant correlation between railway noise notice and annoyance levels (p<0.01). Railway vibration did not cause annoyance, but the combined effect of railway vibration and railway noise increased annoyance levels (p<0.01). In terms of noise notice, there is a railway bonus for residents during the day. In addition, there are differences between men and women in terms of noise notice and annoyance levels during the day and night. The living floor factor had a significant effect on railway noise notice, but not on railway noise-induced annoyance. The results of the study may provide guidance for setting noise limits for railway operations at different times of day.

1 20S134165@stu.hit.edu.cn 2 wuyuehit@hit.edu.cn 3 mengq@hit.edu.cn

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1. INTRODUCTION

Numerous studies on the effects of noise on residential areas have been published in various countries, covering source types such as industrial noise, domestic noise, road traffic noise (abbreviated as road noise) and railway noise, using field acoustic measurements, sociological surveys and other interdisciplinary approaches to investigate how the above-mentioned noise affects people's lives [1]. It can cause negative emotions such as anxiety and irritability [2], disturb sleep, affect work performance and increase the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease [3].

With China's urban construction, the city continues to expand and many originally located on the outskirts of the city railway are gradually included in the urban area. So the railway near the residential area environment becomes very complex, even if in the urban section of the speed limit, the impact of railway noise on the urban environment still exists, troubling the residents near the railway.

Researchers have used sound pressure level (SPL) to measure the level of noise [4], and noise maps are also commonly used to describe the noise distribution [5]. However, these objective noise indicators do not reflect noise exposure levels well. By comparing self-reported annoyance and noise map information, some studies have found that self-reported annoyance can be used to express people's perception of noise [6]. Therefore, self-reported annoyance is important for the evaluation of noise.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between noise notice and annoyance levels among residents living near railway and to explore the differences between day working time and night sleeping time. It also explores the effects of some sociological factors and residential floor on railway noise notice and annoyance, as well as the differences in annoyance caused by ambient noise at different times of the day. These findings may provide evidence for setting noise limits by time of day.

2. METHODS

2.1. Questionnaire This study was conducted from September 2021 to December 2021 by distributing on questionnaires in residential areas near the railway in Harbin, China. A total of 352 valid questionnaires were returned, including 170 males and 182 females, aged 30.7 ± 12.7 years (18-70 years).

The questionnaire included two parts. The first part was basic information, in an anonymous form, containing social data: age, gender, education, occupation, and floor of residence. The second part was based on the ICBEN's (International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise), which recommended language annoyance scale (0-4 scale: 0-not at all, 1-slightly disturbing, 2-moderately disturbing, 3-considerably disturbing, 4-extremely disturbing) to quantify annoyance [7] [8].

2.2. Analysis In this study, parametric variables (age, floor, etc.) were described by mean ± standard deviation; non-parametric variables (noise notice, annoyance level, etc.) were tested using Spearman rank correlation tests, Wilcoxon tests, and Mann-Whitney U tests; the relationship between noise and vibration notice and the annoyance they cause was examined. Previous studies have found significant gender differences in

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environmental noise exposure [9], so the analyses in this paper were conducted separately for each gender. The analysis software was SPSS Statistics (version 25.0) [10].

Table 1 ： Characteristics of the questionnaire participants （ n=352 ）

Characteristics Women （ n=182 ） Men （ n=170 ） % n % n Age 15-24 54.7 99 60.0 102 25-34 11.6 21 17.7 30 35-44 14.4 26 5.9 10 45-54 11.0 21 7.7 13 55+ 8.3 15 8.8 15 Noise notice （ day ） Railway noise 44.5 81 48.2 82 Railway vibration 22.0 40 28.2 48 Road noise 49.5 90 52.9 90 Noise notice （ night ） Railway noise 46.2 84 47.6 81 Railway vibration 23.6 43 31.2 53 Road noise 41.8 76 47.1 80 %=weighted percentages of respondents with complete variable information; n = unweighted numbers of respondents with valid information. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1. Noise notice and annoyance The notice of noise and vibration, and age composition are shown in Table1. In the survey of residential areas near the railway, it was found that the population who noticed the vibration of railway was much smaller in proportion to the population who noticed the noise of railway, and even if the vibration was noticed, there was no significance between the vibration and its annoyance. As for road noise, the population in this study, in terms of noise notice frequency, has a railway bonus during the day. That is, people are more tolerant of railway noise than road noise under the same loudness conditions [11], but it does not exist at night. Moreover, the notice of noise and vibration and the annoyance they cause may vary depending on gender and floor level of residence.

As shown in Table 2, railway noise notice is significantly correlated with annoyance caused by that noise; railway vibration notice is not significantly correlated with annoyance caused by that vibration; and the combined effect of vibration and noise is significantly correlated with annoyance. This indicates that the main source of annoyance from railway noise is caused by railway noise. However, railway vibration may increase annoyance from railway noise.

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Table 2 ： Correlation between notice and annoyance (Spearman)

Women Men p-Value

Characteristics

p-Value

p-Value

p-Value

(day)

(night)

(day)

(night) Railway noise & Noise

annoyance 0.390 ** 0.326** 0.451** 0.376**

Railway vibration & Vibration annoyance -0.008 -0.004 0.097 0.074

Noise and vibration &

Noise annoyance 0.389** 0.258** 0.405** 0.386**

Noise and vibration&

Vibration annoyance 0.342** 0.206** 0.374** 0.332**

Road noise & Noise annoyance 0.932** 0.956** 0.918** 0.941**

p-Value =correlation index between noise perception and annoyance; ** Sig<0.01.

3.2. Day-night difference of noise notice and annoyance In residential areas near the railway, for annoyance caused by railway noise (a and d in Figure1), the number of females who did not notice the noise decreased by 2.2% compared to day and the overall annoyance level increased at night compared to day, the number of males who did not notice the noise decreased by 5.3% compared to day and the overall annoyance level increased compared to day, with a significant difference (p<0.05) between day and night annoyance in both females and males. For annoyance caused by railway vibration (b and e in Figure1), the number of females not noticing vibration at night decreased by 2.2% compared to day, overall annoyance levels increased at night, and overall annoyance levels for males were not significantly different day and night, however, day and night annoyance was not significantly different in either females or males (p>0.05).

For road noise (c and f in Figure1), the number of females not noticing road noise at night increased by 8.8% and overall annoyance levels decreased compared to day, and the number of males not noticing noise at night increased by 8.2% and overall annoyance levels decreased at night, with a significant difference between day and night annoyance in both females and males (p<0.01).

The two kinds of annoyance caused by noise and vibration, for the day-night difference in railway noise annoyance, women had a smaller increase in ann oyance compared to men; for the day-night difference in railway vibration annoyance, women had a larger increase in annoyance compared to men; for the day-night difference in road noise annoyance, women had a smaller increase in annoyance compared to men.

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Figure 1: Frequence of notice and annoyance of noise and vibration. a-c are figures of men, d-f are figures of women, g-i are figures of total; 0=not notice, 1=notice but not disturbing, 2=slightly disturbing, 3=moderately disturbing, 4=considerably disturbing, 5=extremely disturbing.

Overall (g-f in Figure1), for railway noise, the proportion of day and night annoyance distribution is similar, but the night annoyance level is greater than the day; for railway vibration, the proportion of night annoyance distribution is different from the day, while the night annoyance level is greater than the day; for road noise, the proportion of day and night annoyance distribution is similar, but the number of people who do not notice the noise is significantly greater at night than at day. Therefore, it is necessary to set the railway noise limits differently during the day and night

3.3. Difference of noise notice and annoyance due to living floor There is a significant positive correlation between residential floor and railway noise notice (p<0.01), the correlation between residential floor and railway vibration

notice is not significant, the correlation between residential floor and railway noise annoyance is not significant, as shown in Table 3, the higher the residential floor, the more likely to notice railway noise, but the residential floor factor does not affect the annoyance generated by railway noise, railway noise notice does not conform to the railway noise. But the reason for this result is not clear [12].

There was a significant negative correlation (p<0.01) between residential floor level and both road noise notice and annoyance, which indicates that higher residential floor level reduces road noise notice and also annoyance. This is in line with the law of vertical distribution of road noise [13].

Table 3 ： Correlation between living floor and notice or annoyance (Spearman)

Characteristics Day Night p-Value p-Value Railway noise notice 0.190 ** 0.185 ** Railway vibration notice 0.102 0.058 Road noise notice -0.150 ** -0.108 * Railway noise Annoyance -0.003 -0.063 Railway vibration Annoyance 0.048 0.003 Road noise Annoyance -0.192 ** -0.153 ** p-Value =correlation between living floor and notice or annoyance; ** Sig<0.01, * Sig<0.05

4. CONCLUSIONS

As an environmental burden, the annoyance caused by railway noise and its health effects have been paid attention by several studies. Noise annoyance is a subjective human perception, which describes the association with noise more concretely than conventional physical parameters. In this study, data was collected and analyzed by questionnaire. The results show, firstly, that railway noise is probably the main cause of annoyance in residential areas near railway, and that railway vibration does not cause annoyance alone, but increases the level of annoyance caused by noise. Secondly, the railway bonus phenomenon exists during the day and does not exist at night. This may be due to a reduction in road noise at night. Finally, there is a difference in the notices and annoyance caused by railway noise and vibration between males and females during day and night. Therefore, this study can provide a reference for setting noise limits in day and night periods.

The limitation of this paper is that the age of the population surveyed in the questionnaire is skewed and the results of this study may not be comprehensive in terms of age. Previous studies have found that noise notice and noise annoyance may be influenced by other factors, such as the greenery of the residential area, whether the railway is insulated or not, and social factors such as the nature of the work of the people surveyed. Similar noise notice and annoyance may vary between environments and these issues need to be discussed further. The study may provide a reference for setting noise limits for day and night periods.

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