Simple method for predicting most frequent level of insertion loss of detached houses against road traffic noise for evaluating the ‘Environmental Quality Standard for Noise’

The Acoustical Society of Japan’s prediction model for road traffic noise, ASJ RTN-Model 2003, which is generally used for the evaluation of the ‘Environmental Quality Standards for Noise in Japan’ (EQS), estimates the average noise level as the representative value in the evaluated area. However, because the noise level at each building changes greatly depending on the arrangement of buildings, it is necessary, for the evaluation of EQS, to consider the distribution of noise levels in an evaluated section. From that perspective, a new concept to adopt the most frequent level of insertion loss of road traffic noise as a representative value of the evaluated section is proposed. A simple method to predict the most frequent level of insertion loss is presented that is based on the authors’ simulation method of the insertion losses attributable to detached houses. Furthermore, the validity of the proposed equation for evaluating EQS is verified by comparing this method with ASJ RTN-Model 2003, which consists of identical parameters. The result confirms that the proposed prediction equation is appropriate for evaluating EQS.