Road traffic noise – the relationship between noise exposure and noise annoyance in Norway

Exposure–effect relationships between the level of road traffic noise at the most exposed side of a dwellingʹs façade and the residentsʹ reactions to road traffic noise have been estimated. The relationships are based on five Norwegian socio-acoustic studies featuring 18 study areas from two cities and a total of near 4000 respondents. The survey questionnaires distinguish between noise annoyance experienced right outside the apartment and when indoors. Exposure–effect relationships for all degrees of annoyance are estimated simultaneously from ordinal logit models. These predict road traffic noise annoyance when right outside the apartment and when indoors, respectively, as a function of the road traffic noise level outside the most exposed façade. Separate analyses indicate that Norwegians react stronger to road traffic noise than results from a recent compilation of socio-acoustic surveys would lead one to believe. People having inferior single glazing windows report higher indoor annoyance.