The purpose of this degree project is to investigate noise problems for residential areas close to roads with very intense traffic. The area Lilla Essingen in Stockholm has been investigated and most focus is on noise measurements outdoors and different measures for noise reduction in the area. Sound measurements are the basis for this work, but calculations have been made to obtain the 24-hour equivalent sound level and maximum sound level for the different measurement points. Interviews are also an important part of this work, where the sales market for apartments located closest to the road is discussed with various brokers from different companies in the area. Furthermore, the harmful health effects that are obtained due to high noise levels, various measures for reducing noise impact and the different measured values ​​at different times during the day are discussed. The own measured and recalculated 24-hour equivalent noise levels from Lilla Essingen are compared with guideline values from both WHO and Stockholm City in order to better understand the importance of the actual noise within this residential area. Sleep disorders, reduced concentration, stress and hearing damage are the most common effects caused by noise and research has shown that noise also has a connection with cardiovascular diseases. Children are most affected by noise; it can affect their learning development and lead to less concentration compared to the other children who are not exposed to equally high sound levels. The own measurement values ​​have shown that sound levels differ during different times of the day and with different distances from the road. The sound is at its highest in the morning where traffic flow is high, but according to the measurements it has shown that the sound levels are always high next to the road even during the evening / night.   Keywords: Noise, noise impact, motorway, guide values, equivalent sound level, maximum sound level, noise reduction, traffic, quiet side / inte

This degree project illustrates today's noise problems caused by high-speed highways.  The area that has been studied is Kopparlunden along the E18, in Västerås which reflects a long and unique industrial history from the late 1800's. In the current situation  the municipality of Västerås is doing a transformation of the existing industry into a modern residential area with the  new homes, workplaces and services. The purpose of the work is to identify noise and study traffic-related noise problems in this area, partly to check the result of noise values ​​against the requirements, and to propose noise reduction measures. This work is based on own noise measurements and calculations as well as on the study of a couple of relevant reference objects. The result of own noise  measurement and calculations at all four points was about 60 – 63 dBA equivalent on two meter high over ground and about 61 – 67 dBA at five meters high over ground. This means that the measured values exceed the guideline values of approximately 8 dBA at two meters height and 12 dBA at 5 meters height according to BBR. For satisfactory sound levels to be obtained in Kopparlunden, several solutions need to be implemented such as an evacuation corridor between facades and apartments, increased distances between buildings and the noise source, noise screen and well proper placement and design of buildings. / Samhällsbyggnadsteknik

The subject of the thesis was proposed by the acoustic consultancy firm Brekke & Strand, which is of relevance for their additional understanding and development of services and contribution to robust solutions. The aim with this thesis is to give indicative results and to dig deeper into the relation between environmental noise and the perception of the same, specially focusing on construction related noise but also permanent noise sources that originates from infrastructure. The area of interest to evaluate the study is a central location in Stockholm, specifically around Slussen.The importance of a study within this field is vital, especially when considering possible negative health effects that can be related to the perceived noise exposure. With that background it is worth to consider the amount of healthy-life-years lost in Europe each year, which is assumed to be one million. The correlation between lost life years and noise is one of many, but it is also proven to be a catalyst when it comes to stress related or cardiovascular diseases. For instance, if one is living closer than 50 meters from a major road the risk can be four times higher to be annoyed, which in extension can be coupled to the diseases mentioned above.The practical implementation of the study is conducted with a survey and field measurements, with a psychoacoustical perspective and within the frames of a case-control study. Partially this includes to inform the participants of the study at different stages regarding construction noise. The provided information, survey and field measurements aims to be a substantial part of the evaluation regarding the perceived noise whether it is due to construction work, infrastructure or other stochastic sources.The result is presented and distinguished based on distance to noise source, differentiated by gender as well as which type of source that tends to be most annoying. The implemented ranking is displayed as the ICBEN score of each category or source which aims to measure the perceived impact. Even though the results are indicative, the conclusion yields an information dependency as well as a noise source dependency. Further on, the result yields an interesting pattern between genders where women tend to be more disturbed by construction- and other-noise, whereas men tend to be more disturbed by rail- and road-noise. / Ämnet för uppsatsen föreslogs av akustiskkonsultföretaget Brekke & Strand, vilket är av relevans för deras ytterligare förståelse och utveckling av tjänster och bidrag till robusta lösningar. Syftet är att ge vägledande resultat och gräva djupare i förhållandet mellan samhällsbuller och uppfattningen av detsamma, med särskilt fokus på konstruktionsrelaterat buller men också permanenta bullerkällor som härstammar från infrastruktur. Studien och utvärderingen av den samma har fokuserats till Slussenområdet i centrala Stockholm.Betydelsen av en studie inom detta område är avgörande, särskilt när man överväger eventuella negativa hälsoeffekter som kan relateras till den upplevda bullerexponeringen. Med den bakgrunden är det värt att ta hänsyn till hur många hälsosamma levnadsår som går förlorade i Europa varje år, vilket antas vara en miljon. Korrelationen mellan förlorade levnadsår och buller är en av många, men det har också visat sig vara en katalysator när det gäller stressrelaterade eller hjärt- och kärlsjukdomar. Om man till exempel bor närmare än 50 meter från en huvudväg kan risken vara fyra gånger högre för att bli störd och påverkad av buller, vilket i förlängning kan kopplas till ovan nämnda sjukdomar.Det praktiska genomförandet av studien utförsmed en enkätundersökning, fältmätningar,med ett psyko-akustiskt perspektiv och inom ramen för en fallkontrollstudie. Detta inkluderar delvis att informera deltagarna i studien i olika stadier beträffande konstruktionsrelaterat buller. Den tillhandahållna informationen, undersökningen och fältmätningarna syftar till att vara en väsentlig del av utvärderingen av det upplevda bullret oavsett om det beror på byggnadsarbete, infrastruktur eller andra stokastiska källor.Resultatet presenteras och skiljer sig utifrån avstånd till bullerkälla, uppdelat efter kön samt vilken typ av källa som tenderar att vara mest irriterande. Den implementerade rangordningen visas som ICBEN-skalan för varje kategori eller källa, som syftar till att mäta den upplevda effekten. Även om resultaten är vägledande så visar resultaten ett informationsberoende samt ett bullerkällaberoende. Vidare ger resultatet ett intressant mönster mellan könen, där kvinnor tenderar att bli mer störda av konstruktions- och andra-bullerkällor, medan män tenderar att bli mer störda av järnvägs- och väg-buller.