Investigation of road-traffic noise and annoyance in Beijing: a cross-sectional study of 4th Ring Road.

The authors aimed to evaluate traffic noise level and noise annoyance in Beijing and the impact of the noise on the quality of life of the residences. The authors performed a cross-sectional study in a 12-floor college dormitory near 4th Ring Road in Beijing, China. The north-side rooms of the building were noisy and had windows facing the road. The authors measured both indoor and outdoor noise. Using both a 5-item verbal scale and a 0-10 numerical scale, they questioned a sample of 1,293 college students living in the dormitory about road-traffic noise annoyance. The results showed that the average outdoor day-to-night noise level was 79.2 dB(A) in the noisy rooms and 64.0 dB(A) in the quiet rooms. Nearly 39% of the respondents living in the noisy rooms indicated that they were highly annoyed by traffic noise according to the response on the verbal scale, and 50% of the respondents living in the noisy rooms were highly annoyed according to the numerical scale.