Quantification of the exposure and effects of road traffic noise in a dense Asian city: a comparison with western cities

• Published in: Environmental health 2015-03, Vol.14 (1), p.22-22, Article 22
• Main Authors: Brown, Alan Lex, Lam, Kin Che, van Kamp, Irene
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Environmental Exposure; Female; Hong Kong - epidemiology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Noise, Transportation - adverse effects; Population Density; Self Report; Sleep Wake Disorders - epidemiology; Sleep Wake Disorders - etiology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1476-069X; 1476-069X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12940-015-0009-8

Particularly in Asia, dense, traffic-intense, and usually high-rise cities are increasingly the norm. Is existing knowledge on exposure to road traffic noise, and on people's response to such exposure, garnered primarily from western cities, equally applicable in these? Hong Kong has high population and traffic density and a high-rise building form. Road traffic noise exposure was estimated, and residents' responses to traffic noise measured, for a sample of 10,077 dwellings. Noise level estimates were based on three-dimensional modelling. Best international survey practice measured self-reported annoyance and sleep-disturbance. Benchmark estimates of exposure, and of annoyance and self-reported sleep disturbance, are provided. We compare Hong Kong exposure with those of European cities, and the exposure-response relationship for annoyance in Hong Kong to those reported from elsewhere - based on the tolerance limits of previous syntheses. Exposure-response for self-reported sleep disturbance is also compared. The distribution of exposures of dwellings in high-rise, high-density, Hong Kong is different from those reported from Europe, but not at the higher noise levels. The exposure-annoyance relationship for road traffic noise was from the same population of exposure-response relationships, being well within the tolerance limits, of studies used to generate the synthesized Miedema and Oudshoorn curves. The exposure-response curve for self-reported sleep disturbance was parallel to that of Miedema and Vos but slightly lower. The proportion of the Hong Kong population exposed to high levels (>70 dB) is similar to that found in Europe. However, a much higher proportion, compared to European cities, is exposed to Lden levels of 60-64 dB, and a much lower proportion to lower levels (