Community response to Shinkansen noise and vibration: A survey in areas along the Sanyo Shinkansen Line

A social survey on community response to Shinkansen noise was carried out in areas along the Sanyo Shinkansen Line in 2003. The sample size was 724 and the response rate was 66%. Since the noise barriers were constructed along the Shinkansen railway, the noise level was less than about 50 dB LAeq,24h. The relationships between LAeq,24h and % highly annoyed for general noise annoyance and various activity interferences caused by the Shinkansen were compared with those for conventional railways which were found in data collected in the same area in 2002. It has been reported that Shinkansen noise is more annoying than conventional railway noise. However, the reason is not yet clear. In the present study general noise annoyance and annoyance caused by vibration from the Shinkansen were also significantly greater at the same noise level than those of conventional railways. However, the other activity interferences were almost the same between both sources. It was hypothesized that Shinkansen vibration was more than conventional railways and that the Shinkansen vibration increased the noise annoyance more than conventional railways. In 2004, the measurements of vibrations from the Shinkansen and conventional railway were conducted in the same area to estimate the vibration exposure to each house. As a result it was found that the vibration levels from Shinkansen were significantly higher than those from conventional railways. Thus, the above hypothesis regarding the importance of vibration on noise annoyance was verified.