Accuracy and Precision in Traffic Noise Prediction

Traffic is the main source responsible for unacceptable exposure in densely populated communities. The first round of noise mapping and action planning according to 2002/49/EC yielded results with differences hard to be interpreted as real image of the noise climate in the MS. Based on a study financed by the German BAST (Federal Highway Research Institute), the influence of input data, calculation method and assessment procedures on the uncertainty of the final results of the calculation of road noise has been investigated. A ranking of the influencing physical phenomena shows that including effects of minor importance may waste a lot of effort and increase calculation times. The aim of the study was to understand the different approaches and to be able to take them into account in the intended revision of RLS-90. In the following only some aspects can be described – the complete report will be published soon by BAST.