Traffic noise exposure of high-rise residential buildings in urban area

Noise pollution is a major factor of environmental complaints in many cities, which has significant impacts on human health. As a dominating source of environmental noise, the impact of road traffic noise is increasing. Residents living in high-rise buildings along the main road are severely affected by traffic noise. In order to assess the noise level of urban area along the main road in Guangzhou, three buildings were selected to conduct traffic noise measurements, and the questionnaire about traffic noise impact on human being was completed. Through the questionnaire, around 70% of participants consider the traffic noise has negative effect, and about 60% of participants consider the noise has moderate or much higher impact on physical comfort. Around 65% of participants consider the noise had moderately or much higher impact on their psychological comfort. By analyzing the measured data, all of the measured noise levels in three buildings exceed the recommended limit of 55 dB (A) in the daytime and 45 dB (A) in the night for residence, and the exceeded value can be up to 16 dB (A). By comparing the fitting curve of noise level transfer function on each floor relative to the reference floor, the quadratic polynomial was selected to plot the transfer function rather than cubic polynomial.