Overview of the community noise studies in Turkey and introduction to the new regulation conforming to directive 49/EC

Abstract

Noise surveys have been conducted in Turkey in various parts of Istanbul from 1980 up to date, for different noise sources, mostly for road traffic noise. The results were presented so as to reveal the dose & response relationships in comparison with the worldwide results. Briefly, it was observed that the annoyance responses above the mid-point of the 5-point scale corresponded to 62 dBA L<inf>eq</inf>,(18h). Comparison between the annoyance degrees, revealed that the aircraft noise was the most annoying source of noise and the same annoyance responses could be obtained at 2 and 5dBA higher noise levels for road and railway traffic respectively. Surveys in schools for traffic noise indicated appalling results from the teacher's standpoint, but the adverse effects on students is still understudy. To investigate the noise pollution in cities, noise mapping, although not very common, has been carried on for specific purposes, e.g. in certain residential districts, near schools, near open-air entertainment centers where noise complaints are seriously high and for designing noise barriers against motorway noise. Such studies have encouraged the legislation, i.e. the 8 th 5 Year Development Plan and later the Noise Control Action Plan within the Framework of Environmental Strategies. The existing Noise Control By-Law dealing with various noise sources and control at source, environment and user, came into force in 1986. However, after about 20 years of experience, it became inevitable to highlight some important issues, namely, revising the noise limits, strategic noise mapping, coordinating a greater number of responsible authorities, directing the growing interest into the technical solutions for noise and vibration control, especially for the amplified sounds during the tourism season. The structure of the new regulation, which will be enacted soon with consensus on the above subjects, is described briefly in the paper by discussing the adaptability to Directive 2002/49/EC and other EU Norms. © 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.