Study of traffic noise levels at various heights of a 39-story building

Comparative measurements of exterior noise levels made at floors 3, 14, 26, and 37 of a high-rise apartment tower, when presented as a statistical distribution of percent exceedance vs. decibels, show the nature of the influence of local traffic at the low floors compared to the influence of an area source at the high floors. The open window penalty to interior noise levels was measured as well as the side street noise propagation along the building from avenue vehicular traffic sources alone.