PREDICTION OF LA10T TRAFFIC NOISE-LEVELS IN THE CITY OF VISAKHAPATNAM, INDIA

The environmental noise level due to motor vehicle traffic to a first approximation is a function of traffic volume. The values of sound pressure level (L(A10T)) resulting from traffic noise measurements over one-hour periods have been correlated with the equivalent measured numbers of heavy/light vehicles per hour (traffic density). A statistical analysis of the data has been made to enable L(A10T) to be expressed in terms of the traffic density in the city of Visakhapatnam, India in 1986 and 1987. Plots of L(A10T) against logarithm N(h) (equivalent heavy vehicle density) and logarithm N1 (equivalent light vehicle density) for the different zones, as well as for the entire city, have been made. The validity of these equations is tested by computing the values of the noise indices from these equations, using the traffic density data and comparing them with the measured values. The difference between the measured and calculated values is very small.