Applied Acoustics 72 (2011) 477–478

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Applied Acoustics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apacoust

Editorial

Noise mapping

‘‘Noise has always been an important environmental prob- as a ‘‘formality’’, being weighted with the same importance as all
lem for man. In Ancient Rome, rules existed as to the noise other socio-economic and environmental factors.
emitted from the ironed wheels of wagons which battered the These strategic policies have already demonstrated a high de-
stones on the pavement, causing disruption of sleep and annoy- gree of efficiency regarding environmental protection (for instance,
ance to the Romans. In Medieval Europe, horse carriages and the case of contaminant emissions from road vehicles, or the noise
horse back riding were not allowed during night time in certain quotas at airports), and must lead to the creation of a trend to-
cities to ensure a peaceful sleep for the inhabitants.’’ (Guidelines wards the continuous and progressive reduction of environmental
for Community Noise, World Health Organization) noise levels in the long-term, through the practical involvement of
several fields of science and engineering. In this long-term goal,
Nowadays, industrial development, the continuous and rising
noise mapping plays a prominent role, as it is a diagnostic tool pro-
demand for transport, or even leisure activities in advanced socie-
vided to alert the policy- maker, inform the public, and make the
ties, are all contributing to boost a problem that remains unsolved.
stakeholders aware of noise-related problems.
It was in the 1990s that the World Health Organization (WHO)
A noise map is a graphical representation of sound levels in a re-
set the focus on environmental noise matters. In several publica-
gion, for a reference time interval. Noise maps can be used for the
tions, the WHO summarized the state of the art regarding the ef-
assessment of sound levels either in the long-term or the short-
fects of noise on health, and established some recommendations
term, insomuch as they can be used for the pre-evaluation of action
to act as a guide for the competent administrations to manage
plans and noise control measures, or the estimation of people’s
environmental noise in communities. Although in some fields of
exposure to noise. They are very useful for acoustic urban planning,
application (like air transport) environmental noise had been an
for land-use definition and compatibility, and for the environmen-
important matter for assessment prior to this milestone, this was
tal impact assessment of any activity prior to its implementation.
the start of a growing interest in noise-related matters (especially
This Special Issue consists of seventeen contributions dealing
in Europe). Environmental impact assessment in industry and in
with different aspects of noise mapping.
transport infrastructures started including noise matters, and noise
The first two papers in this special issue are related to the appli-
management started being addressed right from the very begin-
cability of noise maps for planning. Zannin’s paper presents a case
ning of land-use planning stages. Noise regulation was created
study that illustrates the process of producing a noise map and its
and/or updated, and the most important cities assumed the need
usefulness for planning and managing noise produced by road traffic.
for noise mapping as a tool to manage this problem.
Urban planning and noise assessment is the topic dealt with by Mur-
In 2002, the European Union (EU) stepped in with the creation of
phy and King in the second paper of this special issue. Action plans
the European Environmental Noise Directive (Directive 2002/49/EC,
for reducing noise in agglomerations are considered in the paper by
also known as END), which established the basis for noise manage-
Martin et al., who propose attending to criteria derived from psycho-
ment in the Member States and set the basis for the elaboration of
social surveys and noise maps. On the other hand, the paper by Licitra
Strategic Noise Maps as the main tool for fighting environmental
et al. describes a methodology for establishing priority criteria for
noise. The END uniformed criteria, established general guidelines
scaling mitigation actions when carrying out action plans. Also
for the production of noise maps, and included a schedule for noise
regarding action plans, on a local basis, the paper by Walerian et al.
maps to be produced. The first round of Noise Mapping (involving
deals with the efficiency of screen application in built-up areas.
the most important agglomerations and transport infrastructures)
Concerning the process of producing noise maps by using sim-
encouraged R + D activity in this field, and has been useful in creat-
ulation tools, the paper by Arana et al. refers to the precision re-
ing valuable know-how to confront the Second Round (for 2012). At
quired in digital terrain models, while Manvell and van Banda
present, the European Commission is developing a common noise
describe the factors where the user influences the quality of the re-
assessment method for the EU (CNOSSOS-EU) in order to improve
sults. A description of the advancements in three-dimensional
the reliability, consistency and comparability of the results across
noise mapping and its application in the case of Hong Kong is pre-
the EU Member States, as an overall strategy for reducing noise.
sented by Wing et al.
When fighting acoustic pollution, it is not usually feasible to
With reference to the applicability and analysis of the results of
take actions that can result in overall positive effects in the
a noise map, the paper by Ko et al. suggests a scheme for noise im-
short-term, as acoustic criteria must be considered together with
pact assessment using noise maps and GIS, while in the paper by
many others (industry, transport and mobility, job creation, eco-
Xie et al., noise mapping is shown as a tool for evaluating the im-
nomic growth, leisure). Therefore, it is mandatory to adopt strate-
pact of noise on the academic achievements of students. The paper
gic policies to make the stakeholders aware of the importance of
by Wan and Kang has focused on using noise maps for studying the
fighting noise, so that the polluter ‘‘noise’’ is no longer considered
effects of urban morphology on traffic noise distribution.

0003-682X/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2011.01.013
478 Editorial / Applied Acoustics 72 (2011) 477–478
Measurements also play a role in noise mapping, as they are
used for the validation of the simulated maps or even for mapping
when the lack of input data gives no opportunity for calculation
methods. The paper by Romeu et al., and the one by Makarewicz
and Galuszka, have focused on different approaches regarding
uncertainty derived from the use of short-term measurements
for long-term noise assessment. The paper from Mioduszewski
et al. makes a comparison between simulation and measurement,
using the monitoring carried out in Gdansk.
On a separate note, many researchers have focused on applica-
tions intended to solve some of the problems found during the pro-
cess of producing noise maps. This is the case described in the
paper by Mato-Méndez and Sobreira Seoane, describing a method
for gathering the input data required for the simulation of road
traffic noise maps, and the case of the paper by Asensio et al. pre-
senting self-adaptive grids for noise mapping production and
refinement.
The last paper by Szwarcz et al. comes back to the beginning of
the process describing a novel method for modelling railway noise
by using genetic algorithms.
We believe that all of the contributions in this Special Issue can
be a useful guide for practitioners and researchers in the fields of
environmental acoustics, noise control or noise effects analysis.
On behalf of the Applied Acoustics journal, several international
experts were invited to submit articles for this special issue. All
submissions were peer-reviewed in accordance with the estab-
lished procedures and were processed by Prof. Yiu W. Lam. We
acknowledge his valuable assistance and guidance in this context.
We would like to thank many anonymous referees who provided
critical reviews and helpful suggestions. Finally, we wish to
acknowledge all of the authors who made this issue possible.
César Asensio
Manuel Recuero
Mariano Ruiz
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (CAEND),
C/ Serrano 144, 28006 Madrid, Spain
E-mail address: cesar.asensio@caend.upm-csic.es (César Asensio)
Available online 24 February 2011