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International audience; Through a governmental health prevention policy, the Quebec government decided to take actions in order to reduce the effects of environmental noise on the health and quality of life of the population. According to a recent interdepartmental action plan, a priority action was to give recommendations to municipalities and event promoters for the following outdoor leisure activities: music, fireworks, shooting ranges, and car racing. The population of interest were the attendees potentially exposed to high noise levels and the residents living close to the venues. This study is based on: (i) a literature review of regulations, scientific papers and reports from Quebec, Europe and Australia, (ii) a consultation campaign involving Quebec municipalities, event promoters and acoustic consultants and (iii) acoustic measurements carried out during leisure activities in Quebec. Acoustic descriptors, limit values, monitoring methods, planning methods, management plan and mitigation practices are presented. The documents analysis shows that the limit values should be set for all Quebec municipalities in order to protect the hearing health of attendees (limit values defined by the province of Quebec or Canada). To protect the well-being of residents, it is recommended that each regulations be defined and adapted to the local context of each municipality and events.

International audience; In Canada, there are three levels of governance (federal, provincial and municipal). We focus here on regulations related to environmental noise at the municipal level in the province of Quebec. We report on the main findings of a systematic review of 114 municipal regulations. The review covered regulations from 74 cities in Quebec, selected based on five criteria: size, geographical region, economic activity, proximity to major transportation infrastructure, and presence of outdoor recreational events. All official and up-to-date legal documents related to environmental noise were considered, including noise ordinances, rules of peace and order, and environmental protection acts. A qualitative analysis of definitions across documents indicates that environmental noise can be conceived as an acoustic phenomenon, an environmental pollutant, a public health concern, or a quality of life indicator. Other elements refer to the context in which it is experienced, in terms of time of day, zoning, activities and communities affected, as well as the agents producing noise. Furthermore, 35 municipalities include exposure limits in dBA mostly for overall sound level and 16 of them describe the measurement protocol. Most regulations rely on the energetic indicator LAeq,T, sometimes with corrections considering noise characteristics and emergence from the background noise. Despite variations across cities, limits typically center around: - 65 dBA outdoors and 45 dBA indoors for daytime, - 50 dBA outdoors and 40 dBA indoors for nighttime. The findings are discussed in light of best practices at the international level, including the World Health Organization guidelines. This research is funded by the Quebec ministries of Health (MSSS) and Environment (MELCC).

International audience; In Canada, there are three levels of governance (federal, provincial and municipal). We focus here on regulations related to environmental noise at the municipal level in the province of Quebec. We report on the main findings of a systematic review of 114 municipal regulations. The review covered regulations from 74 cities in Quebec, selected based on five criteria: size, geographical region, economic activity, proximity to major transportation infrastructure, and presence of outdoor recreational events. All official and up-to-date legal documents related to environmental noise were considered, including noise ordinances, rules of peace and order, and environmental protection acts. A qualitative analysis of definitions across documents indicates that environmental noise can be conceived as an acoustic phenomenon, an environmental pollutant, a public health concern, or a quality of life indicator. Other elements refer to the context in which it is experienced, in terms of time of day, zoning, activities and communities affected, as well as the agents producing noise. Furthermore, 35 municipalities include exposure limits in dBA mostly for overall sound level and 16 of them describe the measurement protocol. Most regulations rely on the energetic indicator LAeq,T, sometimes with corrections considering noise characteristics and emergence from the background noise. Despite variations across cities, limits typically center around: - 65 dBA outdoors and 45 dBA indoors for daytime, - 50 dBA outdoors and 40 dBA indoors for nighttime. The findings are discussed in light of best practices at the international level, including the World Health Organization guidelines. This research is funded by the Quebec ministries of Health (MSSS) and Environment (MELCC).