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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-150).

There is not much research done on how traffic noise on schoolyards affect children and teachers although noise pollution from traffic often are high and affect both groups in several ways. It is a well-established fact that a positive sound environment affects health and learning as well as the working capacity by reducing stress levels. The purpose of this study is to examine whether sound pollution is prevalent in elementary schools in Umeå, if the personnel have knowledge pertaining to the effects of sound pollution, and whether the examined schools have specific routines and self-monitoring mechanism for dealing with sound pollution. The study also aims to inquire whether the schools take any preventive measures with regards to minimizing sound pollution and if they have assigned responsibility for these matters to anyone in the organization. Two methods were used in the study, a questionnaire for teachers and interviews with the principals. The questions were formed in such a way so as to shed light on the above mentioned purposes of this study. The answers to the questionnaire illustrate if and how the teachers perceive and deal with sound pollution on the schoolyard. The interview questions aimed to assess the perception of the principals regarding the sound pollution in their respective schools, the level of knowledge the school management had with regards to sound pollution as well as the routines used for ameliorating and preventing sound pollution on the school yard. The study was performed in four elementary schools in the municipality of Umeå and the questionnaire had 32 respondents. One major reason for using a questionnaire was to maximize the amount of respondents in a time efficient manner. The study intends to shed light on a problem (i.e. sound pollution) that schools usually tend to disregard but nevertheless a problem that, possibly, could lead to dire consequences if not taken into account. The results of the study show that 10 of the 32 teachers perceive traffic noise as a problem that affects both children and educational activities negatively on their schoolyard. The results of the study indicate that teachers perceive sound pollution to be a problem on their schoolyard. However, they seem to lack adequate knowledge regarding the health outcome of such noise pollutants. In conclusion, it is evident that teachers need more support information, resources and education in order to enable them to achieve a positive sound environment on their workplace - both for themselves and the children. The results show that there still remains a lot to improve in schools with regards to noise pollution. In many cases, even those responsible at the schools lacked the knowledge necessary to understand the health problems with noise pollution.

O aumento expressivo nos níveis de ruído, principalmente nas áreas urbanas próximas aos aeroportos, tem contribuído de forma preocupante para os já elevados e atuais níveis de poluição sonora registrados nos grandes centros urbanos. Além do fato dos incômodos e desconfortos no cotidiano das pessoas provocados por esse fato, as autoridades que tratam desse assunto alertam para os danos causados a saúde humana e dos seres vivos em geral. Alguns países europeus que estudam este assunto se dizem preocupados com os impactos negativos em suas economias na questão do desequilíbrio orçamentário no setor da saúde. A tese motivada pela utilização ampla de barreiras acústicas no setor de transporte rodoviário, ferroviário convencional e de alta velocidade, e, prioritariamente aéreo, pôde construir por intermédio desses contextos o conhecimento necessário e um cenário de expectativas promissoras com o objetivo de colaborar com a atenuação do ruído aeronáutico com uma proposta acadêmica de implantação de barreiras acústicas articuladas posicionadas nas cabeceiras da pista principal do Aeroporto de Congonhas em São Paulo no momento da decolagem, tendo como paradigma conceitual e operacional o uso similar dos defletores de energia que são utilizados nos conveses dos porta-aviões no momento das suas decolagens. / The significant increase in noise levels, especially in urban areas close to airports, has contributed to the alarmingly high already and current noise pollution levels recorded in major urban centers. Besides the fact of annoyances and discomforts in the everyday life of people caused by this fact, the authorities dealing with this subject warn of the damage to human health and living creatures in general. Some European countries who study this issue claim to be concerned about negative impacts on their economies on the question of the budget imbalance in the health sector. Some European countries who study this issue claim to be concerned about negative impacts on their economies on the question of the budget imbalance in the health sector. The thesis motivated by wide use of noise barriers in the road transport sector, conventional and high-speed rail, and, as a matter of priority air could build through these contexts the knowledge necessary and a promising expectations scenario with the objective of collaborating with the aeronautical noise attenuation with an academic proposal to implement noise barriers at the headwaters of the track positioned hinged main from Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo at the time of takeoff with the conceptual and operational paradigm using similar energy deflectors that are used on the decks of the carrier at the time of their landings.

O aumento expressivo nos níveis de ruído, principalmente nas áreas urbanas próximas aos aeroportos, tem contribuído de forma preocupante para os já elevados e atuais níveis de poluição sonora registrados nos grandes centros urbanos. Além do fato dos incômodos e desconfortos no cotidiano das pessoas provocados por esse fato, as autoridades que tratam desse assunto alertam para os danos causados a saúde humana e dos seres vivos em geral. Alguns países europeus que estudam este assunto se dizem preocupados com os impactos negativos em suas economias na questão do desequilíbrio orçamentário no setor da saúde. A tese motivada pela utilização ampla de barreiras acústicas no setor de transporte rodoviário, ferroviário convencional e de alta velocidade, e, prioritariamente aéreo, pôde construir por intermédio desses contextos o conhecimento necessário e um cenário de expectativas promissoras com o objetivo de colaborar com a atenuação do ruído aeronáutico com uma proposta acadêmica de implantação de barreiras acústicas articuladas posicionadas nas cabeceiras da pista principal do Aeroporto de Congonhas em São Paulo no momento da decolagem, tendo como paradigma conceitual e operacional o uso similar dos defletores de energia que são utilizados nos conveses dos porta-aviões no momento das suas decolagens. / The significant increase in noise levels, especially in urban areas close to airports, has contributed to the alarmingly high already and current noise pollution levels recorded in major urban centers. Besides the fact of annoyances and discomforts in the everyday life of people caused by this fact, the authorities dealing with this subject warn of the damage to human health and living creatures in general. Some European countries who study this issue claim to be concerned about negative impacts on their economies on the question of the budget imbalance in the health sector. Some European countries who study this issue claim to be concerned about negative impacts on their economies on the question of the budget imbalance in the health sector. The thesis motivated by wide use of noise barriers in the road transport sector, conventional and high-speed rail, and, as a matter of priority air could build through these contexts the knowledge necessary and a promising expectations scenario with the objective of collaborating with the aeronautical noise attenuation with an academic proposal to implement noise barriers at the headwaters of the track positioned hinged main from Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo at the time of takeoff with the conceptual and operational paradigm using similar energy deflectors that are used on the decks of the carrier at the time of their landings.

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Le bruit dû aux infrastructures de transports terrestres fait partie des premières préoccupations environnementales de ce début de 21e siècle. Un moyen utilisé pour réduire ce bruit est de placer des protections acoustiques le long des grands axes routiers et ferroviaires. Actuellement, les choix de ces protections antibruit se portent généralement sur des solutions traditionnelles : écran droit, merlon, écran incliné, écran avec un couronnement. Le but de ce travail est de proposer des protections acoustiques innovantes utilisant des moyens naturels et d’en étudier la performance acoustique en utilisant des approches numériques et expérimentales. L’approche numérique peut être couplée en outre à un outil d’optimisation, développé dans cette thèse, pour chercher des formes améliorées de tels dispositifs antibruit novateurs. Après une présentation des principaux phénomènes mis en jeu dans la propagation des ondes acoustiques en milieu extérieur complexe, un état de l’art des principaux écrans acoustiques dédiés aux transports terrestres a été établi, permettant de choisir trois protections antibruit innovantes pour en étudier la performance acoustique. Une analyse des principales méthodes de simulation numérique, de mesure et d’optimisation des protections antibruit a permis de choisir les méthodes adaptées à notre problématique des écrans acoustiques utilisant des moyens naturels. Les méthodes choisies ont été utilisées dans ce travail pour évaluer la performance acoustique de ces écrans innovants. Pour le premier écran choisi, dit écran en gabions, nous avons effectué des mesures in-situ et sur modèles réduits, ainsi que des simulations numériques montrant une efficacité satisfaisante. Pour le deuxième écran, utilisant des cristaux soniques, et pour le troisième écran, de type merlon acoustique de forme complexe, nous avons réalisé une étude numérique paramétrique suivie d’une étude d’optimisation. Les résultats des calculs ont montré l’intérêt de tels dispositifs antibruit pour réduire le bruit de circulation routière et ferroviaire en milieu urbain et ils ont abouti à des formes améliorées des protections acoustiques utilisant des moyens naturels. / Noise due to ground transportation infrastructures is among the first environmental concerns of this beginning of 21th century. Building noise protections along motorways and railways is usually the chosen solution to reduce this noise. Currently, noise abatement systems used are mainly conventional ones: straight barriers, earth berms, tilted barriers, capped barriers. The purpose of this work is to propose innovative noise barriers using natural means and to study their acoustic performance by using numerical and experimental approaches. The numerical approach can also be coupled with an optimization tool, developed in this thesis, to obtain improved shapes of such devices using natural means. First, the main phenomena that appear during acoustic wave propagation in a complex outdoor medium are described. Then, a state of the art of the main noise barriers dedicated to ground transportation noise is achieved. It drives the choice of three innovative noise barriers using natural means. An analysis of the main numerical, experimental and optimization methods is carried out which allows to choose the methods adapted to our problem of noise barriers using natural means. The chosen methods are used in this work to assess the acoustic performance of the three innovative noise barriers. For the first chosen noise barrier called “gabions barrier”, we perform in-situ and scale model measurements and numerical simulations. The results show a satisfactory efficiency of such noise devices. For the second and the third chosen noise barriers called respectively “sonic crystal assisted barrier” and “complex shaped earth berm”, we perform a parametric numerical and an optimization studies. The results show the capacity of such noise devices to reduce motorways and railways noises in urban areas and they lead to improved shapes of innovative noise barriers using natural means.