A -WEIGHTED EQUIVALENT SOUND LEVEL AS A PREDICTOR OF THE ANNOYANCE CAUSED BY ROAD TRAFFIC CONSISTING OF VARIOUS PROPORTIONS OF LIGHT AND HEAVY VEHICLES

A laboratory study was conducted to examine the relationship between noise annoyance and the proportion of heavy vehicles in a mixture of trucks and passenger cars. Twenty normal-hearing subjects were asked to judge the annoyance caused by the sounds from a continuous stream of vehicles, assuming they were exposed to it at home on a regular basis. The number of passby events as well as the A- weighted equivalent sound level were kept constant. Results showed that in such conditions, the annoyance is virtually independent of the proportion of heavy vehicles.