We offer environmental noise impact assessments for new developments:
- by understanding the context of the project and development,
- identify relevant international, regional, national, and local government policies and standards on requirements on sound and noise emission limits,
- identify the sources of noise and assess its intensity,
- identify sensitive receptors and determine potential impacts of noise on both human and ecological receptors
- propose noise control engineering measures
Early involvement in a project provides the opportunity to influence the design of the project and potentially eliminate or reduce the noise impact. This could result in overall cost and time savings to the project and costing of noise control engineering measures into project’s budget.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is an evaluation procedure applied to both new development proposals and changes or extensions to existing developments that are anticipated to have significant impacts on the environment. The EIA process ensures that potential impacts on the environment are considered, including noise. EIA provides a process by which the interaction of environmental impacts resulting from development can be predicted and modelled to allow impacts to be avoided or reduced through improvements of design and the implementation of mitigation measures. Therefore, it is an important part of the planning and decision-making process.
Some (not limited to and depending on countries and contexts) standards we used in our work:
- Guidelines for Environmental Noise Limits and Control, 2017
- Environmental Quality Act, 1974 (Amendment), 1985
- ISO 1996-1:2016 Acoustics – Description, measurement and assessment of environmental noise – Part 1: Basic quantities and assessment procedures
- ISO 1996-2:2017 Acoustics – Description, measurement and assessment of environmental noise – Part 2: Determination of sound pressure levels
- ISO 9613-2: 1996 Acoustics – Attenuation of sound during propagation outdoors – Part 2: General method of calculation
- BS 4142: 2014+A1:2019 Methods for rating and assessing industrial and commercial noise
- BS 5228-1: 2009+A1: 2014 Code of practice for noise and vibration control on construction and open sites. Part 1: Noise
- DIN 45680 Measurement and assessment of low frequency noise immission in the neighbourhood
- IEC 61672-1 Electroacoustics — Sound level meters — Part 1: Specifications
- IEC 616723-3 Electronics – Sound level meters. Part 3: Periodic tests
- IEC 60942 Electroacoustics – Sound calibrators
- IEC 61260-1 Electroacoustics – Octave-band and fractional-octave-band filters – Part 2: Pattern-evaluation tests
- ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories
- ISO/IEC Guide 98-3 Uncertainty of measurement. Part 3: Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement.
- Calculation of Road Traffic Noise 1988 (CRTN)
- Calculation of Railway Noise 1995 (CRN
Developments, planning policies, and design stages decisions should aim to:
- avoid noise from giving rise to significant adverse impacts on health, psychology, mental health, and quality of life as a result of new development
- mitigate and reduce to a minimum other adverse impact on health, psychology, mental health, and quality of life arising from noise from new development
- balancing development and controlling noise impacts to achieve good facilities such as transportation, economic growth, urbanisation, and social equity.
- balancing development and controlling noise impacts when existing businesses expands and there should not be unreasonable restrictions due to changes in nearby land uses since businesses were first established
- identify and protect areas of tranquillity which have remained relatively undisturbed by noise and
A thorough understanding of the project and its context is important to carry out noise impact assessment based on the following methodology:
- Investigate issues to be managed in the noise impact assessment
- Identification of sensitive receptors and setting the baseline condition
- Impacts identification and assessment of the impacts – prediction and modelling of the noise that is expected to be generated by the developments
- Evaluation of the impacts to determine their significance
- Noise control engineering proposals to mitigate noise to reduce the extent of the noise impact.
- Monitoring of noise impacts and verification of post implementation of noise control measures
