Tyre-road noyse: annoyance and detection of incoming traffic

Abstract

In this paper, annoyance ratings and detection thresholds of incoming traffic are discussed as a function of road-tyre noise. Empirical data on annoyance, from the Noiseless project, can be interpreted as follows: (1) cobble stones pavements were significantly the most annoying; (2) the open asphalt rubber pavement had lower annoyance ratings but it did not differ significantly from the dense asphalt; (3) increasing speeds and traffic densities always led to higher annoyance ratings. On the other hand, as far as safety and detection of incoming traffic is concerned: (1) the hybrid vehicle was the least detected whereas the pickup truck was the most detected; (2) a clear effect of pavement type was found, with less detections for the asphalt rubber pavement while the cobble stones pavement always provided good detection.