Abstract

GUZMAN PINEIRO, Raisa  and  BARCELO PEREZ, Carlos. Estimation of road traffic noise pollution in Havana City, 2006. Rev Cubana Hig Epidemiol [online]. 2008, vol.46, n.2. ISSN 0253-1751.

AIM: to perform the modeling and estimation of the noise level of traffic in Havana City, and to show the level of noise pollution attained as a source in motor vehicle traffic in the main urban arteries. METHODS: a combined design study (analytical and descriptive) was performed including as a model the network of main arteries of the capital with a road circulation higher than 250 vehicles per hour, for which a health zoning was established. The diagnostic tool was an estimation of the sound level established by using statistical techniques, from an opinion sample of 37 different combinations of engineered road profiles and of transport flow, whose dependent variable was the continuous equivalent level of fluctuating noise-Leq 1 hour in dB(A,F) with an equivalence parameter of q = 3. RESULTS: Leq functional relationships with an extreme level of a similar period and with parameters of traffic flow, and engineered routes profile were proposed. The best model showed an uncertainty rate of 2 dB (AF) Leq. The application of the model to satellite photos allowed to make a noise map where a generalized acoustic pollution stands out in the main arteries of the capital compared with the limit values proposed by the standard NC 26-04 of NC-CTN 98/SC 1. CONCLUSIONS: a model based on the standardized flow by road width and the speed of heavy vehicles is generated to calculate the continuous equivalent level of the fluctuating noise. The noise map for Havana City shows high predominant levels of noise pollution.

Keywords : Noise; health zoning; engineered routes profiles; traffic flow; noise map.

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