Temporal and spatial variations in road traffic noise for different frequency components in metropolitan Taichung, Taiwan

Road traffic noise exposure has been associated with auditory and non-auditory health effects, but few studies report noise characteristics. This study determines 24-h noise levels and analyzes their frequency components to investigate associations between seasons, meteorology, land-use types, and traffic. We set up 50 monitoring stations covering ten different land-use types and conducted measurements at three times of the year to obtain 24-h-average A-weighted equivalent noise levels (LAeq,24h) and frequency analyses from 2013 to 2014 in Taichung, Taiwan. Information on land-use types, road parameters, traffic flow rates, and meteorological variables was also collected for analysis with the annual averages of road traffic noise and its frequency components. The annual average LAeq,24h in Taichung was 66.4 ± 4.7 A-weighed decibels (dBA). Significant differences in LAeq,24h and frequency components were observed between land-use types (all p-values