A DATA LOGGING SYSTEM FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF ROAD TRAFFIC NOISE

THE TRRL NOISE LOGGING EQUIPMENT IS A TEN MICROPHONE SYSTEM DESIGNED TO ACCUMULATE INFORMATION AUTOMATICALLY ABOUT THE TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION OF NOISE OVER A SELECTED AREA. IT IS CAPABLE OF OPERATING CONTINUOUSLY FOR 24 HOURS OR MORE. THIS PAPER DESCRIBES THE COMPONENTS OF THE LOGGER AND DISCUSSES ITS PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD. THE ACCURACY OF THE SYSTEM DEPENDS UPON THE RATE OF DATE ACQUISITION. AT THE RATE CURRENTLY IN USE, THE STANDARD ERROR ASSOCIATED WITH ESTIMATES OF THE L10 AND L90 INDICES IS TYPICALLY + 1.0 DBA AT SITES ALONGSIDE BUSY ROADS. THIS COMPARES FAVORABLY WITH THE PRECISION OFFERED BY THE MORE WIDELY USED TAPE RECORDING METHOD. THE RESULTS OF AN EXPERIMENT CARRIED OUT IN BIRMINGHAM ARE REPORTED. USING THE TRRL EQUIPMENT IT WAS FOUND THAT 360 MICROPHONE-HOURS OF DATA COULD BE COMFORTABLY COLLECTED AND ANALYZED IN TWO WEEKS, INVOLVING A TOTAL STAFF EFFORT OF APPROXIMATELY 180 MAN-HOURS. AT SITES CLOSER TO THE LABORATORY THE STAFF REQUIREMENT CAN BE APPROXIMATELY HALVED. A COMPUTERIZED NOISE MAPPING TECHNIQUE HAS BEEN ADAPTED TO DISPLAY THE BIRMINGHAM DATA. IN ITS PRESENT FORM, HOWEVER, A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF DATA PRE-PROCESSING IS REQUIRED AND FOR THIS REASON THE METHOD IS NOT RECOMMENDED. FINALLY, MODIFICATIONS TO THE SYSTEM ARE PROPOSED. A MINI-COMPUTER WILL BE USED TO CONTROL HIGH SPEED SCANNING OF THE MICROPHONE OUTPUTS, AND WILL ALSO ANALYZE THE DATA ON-SITE. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)

  Wokingham, Berkshire  United Kingdom 
• Authors:
  • Cheeseman, M
  • NELSON, P M
• Publication Date: 0

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 18 p.
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: lr47

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Measurement; Measuring instruments; Noise; Recording instruments; Sound level meters; Testing
• Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224682
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Report/Paper Numbers: R&d Rpt
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 14 1973 12:00AM