Urban Noise Analysis Using Multinomial Logistic Regression

The research uses a database of urban noise data collected continually from April 2013 to March 2014 at 10 sites in Dublin, Ireland. The first objective of the paper is to investigate if the morning daily noise level peak is related to transport characteristics of households, such as car ownership levels, the mode by which people travel to work, and morning work trip departure time. Data from the 2011 Irish census is used to provide the information on households and this is tested against noise measurement levels. The second objective is to examine the relative importance of the spatial and temporal variables of location, month of the year, weekday, and hour of the day in predicting urban noise levels using a multinomial logistic regression model. The results show that the transport household characteristics examined do not appear to influence noise levels. The outcome from the regression model demonstrates that location is the most important variable followed in order by hour of the day, month of the year, and weekday in predicting urban noise levels. (C) 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.