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| Year : 2010
| Volume
: 12 | Issue : 48 | Page
: 195-198 |
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| Studies on assessment of traffic noise level in Aurangabad city, India |
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BJ Bhosale, Amul Late, PM Nalawade, SP Chavan, MB Mule
Department of Environmental Science, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad - 431004, India
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and email
| Date of Web Publication | 30-Jun-2010 |
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With the rapid rate of urbanization of Aurangabad city due to the expanding industrialization, the problem of noise pollution has become a concern for urban dwellers and government authority too. Noise pollution due to vehicular traffic is one of the growing environmental problems of urban centers. The study deals with the assessment of traffic noise levels in Aurangabad city. With respect to the total number of vehicles passing the road in unit time, which was surveyed by direct count method, six different sites from Aurangabad city, viz., Nagar Naka, Kranti Chowk, CIDCO bus stand, Railway station area, Dhoot Hospital and Baba petrol pump were selected to study the vehicular noise level. Noise measurements were carried out at these six locations on both working day and holiday during the peak traffic hours, i.e. 8:00 a.m. - 11:a.m., 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., in the morning, afternoon and evening sessions, respectively, after 5 minutes time interval. The noise level was monitored using noise level meter. The results obtained from this investigation showed that the Nagar Naka, Kranti chowk and CIDCO bus stand area have dense traffic zones when compared with the Railway station area, Dhoot Hospital and Baba petrol pump. The minimum and the maximum noise levels are 74 and 86 dB, respectively, on working day and 70 and 81 dB, respectively, on holiday. The measured noise level values exceed the prescribed noise level. Keywords: Decibels, noise level, urbanization, vehicular traffic
How to cite this article:
Bhosale B J, Late A, Nalawade P M, Chavan S P, Mule M B. Studies on assessment of traffic noise level in Aurangabad city, India. Noise Health 2010;12:195-8 |
| Introduction | |  |
With the rapid pace of development along with global environmental problems such as air pollution, water pollution, loss of bio-diversity, climate change etc., noise pollution is also becoming a concern for human society in urban areas. In developing countries, the problem of noise pollution has been not properly recognized. [1]
Vehicular traffic acts as a significant contributor source of noise. [2] Motor vehicles, which are an inherent part of the urban dwellers, play a vital role in urban noise pollution, i.e. they contribute about 55% to the total noise. [3],[4] The rapidly increasing population followed by large number of vehicles gives rise to unrestrained noise pollution and its associated health effects and can cause both short-term as well as long-term psychological and physiological disorders. Noise pollution has an adverse impacts on human health. It also causes annoyance, nausea, insomnia, thus affecting the working efficiency. [5],[6] Adverse effects on exposure to noise may include interference with speech communication and decreasing children's learning skills. [7] More recently, attempts have been made to estimate health and economic impacts of pollution. Franssen, et al., [8] showed that a significant portion of hypertension is attributed to aircraft noise, in their comprehensive approach for assessing the health consequences of the noise resulting from the operation of Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, in an environmental impact assessment.
The problem of noise pollution due to the vehicular traffic has been studied by eminent researchers. [9],[10],[11],[12],[13] Considering the role of vehicular traffic in noise pollution, this study was carried out to study the vehicular traffic noise level in Aurangabad city at different sites
Study Area
Aurangabad is the headquarters of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state, with a historic background and is a tourist place. It is situated at latitude 19°53'59'' North and longitude 75°20' East. Ajantha and Ellora caves, it is a cultural, religious, educational and industrial center. The area of Aurangabad city is about 138 km 2 . The population of Aurangabad city was 29,000, 5, 73,272 and 8,72,663 as per 1931, 1991 and 2001 census, respectively. Presently, the population of Aurangabad city is about 1,200,000 (AMC, 2006). The total number of small, medium and large-scale industrial units is about 1020, and about 35,000 workers are employed in these units. The rapid industrial growth of Aurangabad has a positive impact on the urbanization process of Aurangabad city. Increase in living standards due to exponential economic growth, the number of vehicles has also having the significant contribution in vehicular traffic.
| Materials and Methods | | |
The present investigation has been divided into two parts, i.e. (i) vehicle count by direct method and (ii) noise level monitoring by noise meter.
During this study, the total numbers of vehicles from selected sites, viz., Nagar Naka, Kranti chowk, CIDCO bus stand, Railway station area, Dhoot Hospital and Baba petrol pump of Aurangabad city were measured by direct count method [Figure 1]. All these selected sampling sites are on National Highway No. 211 i.e. Dhule - Solapur across Aurangabad city, whereas, Nagar Naka is a central point from where the road for Mumbai, Nashik and Pune bifurcates. Kranti Chowk, Railway station area, Dhoot Hospital and Baba Petrol Pump sites are situated within the city which comprises the dense vehicular traffic.
The noise levels were monitored during the morning, afternoon and evening sessions, i.e. 8:00 - 11:00 a.m., 1:00 - 4.00 p.m. and 5:00 - 8:00 p.m., respectively, after 5 minutes interval on both working day and holiday. The noise levels at selected monitoring sites were measured by using portable digital sound level meter (model-CEL-231).
| Results and Discussion | | |
The total number of vehicles that passed the road in unit time from six different sites was measured by direct count method in the morning, afternoon and evening sessions and the average values of noise level measured in decibel (dB) are summarized in [Table 1].
Maximum number of total vehicles passing in unit time was observed at Nagar Naka, Kranti Chowk and CIDCO bus stand sites, with the number being 8833, 7953 and 7878 respectively, whereas minimum number of total vehicles passing in unit time was observed at Railway Station area, Dhoot Hospital and Baba petrol pump site, with 4184, 5553 and 5842 vehicles, respectively. However, the peak traffic was observed during morning and evening time at all the monitoring sites from the city. Maximum numbers of peoples are traveling during the morning and evening time for office work and schools having similar working hours
The noise levels at selected sites from Aurangabad city on working day and holiday in three sessions were measured by using noise level meter and the average values of noise (dB) are summarized in [Table 2] and [Table 3], respectively. Also, the average values of noise level (dB) at selected sites on working day and holiday in the morning, afternoon and evening sessions are summarized in [Figure 2] and [Figure 3], respectively. The average maximum values of noise level at selected sites ranged from 81 to 86 dB during working day and the minimum noise ranged from 74-78 dB.
The noise level during evening time has shown higher values as compared to morning and afternoon time on working day at all monitoring sites. However, the maximum noise levels on holiday were 80 and 81 dB at Nagar Naka and Railway station, respectively, in the evening period. Minimum noise levels were observed at Baba petrol pump, Kranti chowk and Dhoot hospital during the afternoon period. The CIDCO bus stand and railway station area showed an average reading of noise level.
Neema and Dube [14] studied the noise pollution due to vehicles in some areas of Bhopal city and reported that the level of traffic noise is above 100 dB which is not acceptable for human ear.
According to a study conducted by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) in 1989 the noise level in Tamil Nadu varied from 52.7 to 119.4 dB which is higher than the permissible limit.
Pandya and Verma [15] studied the noise pollution related to vehicular traffic in city area and found the increased noise level which affects human population. They reported that the noise level is more than the limit fixed by the CPCB.
| Conclusion | | |
The study reveals that, the vehicular traffic is the significant contributor of the noise pollution in urban areas. The total number of vehicles passing the on road in unit time and the time of the day during which they pass, (morning, afternoon and evening) may decide the sessionwise intensity of noise level. The present investigation shows a higher noise level at dense traffic zones during morning and evening sessions in Aurangabad city. The study recommends, that regularity in the working status of traffic signals, research on alternative roads to avoid the heavy traffic in city area, and strict implementation of traffic rules by the public for which there is an urge to adopt awareness programs for minimizing the noise pollution.
| Acknowledgments | | |
The authors are very much thankful to Dr. A. S. Dhapate, Branch Manager, Ashwamedh Engineers & Consultants, Aurangabad, and Dr. Bhagwaan Maknikar, Lecturer, Department of Environmental Science, Deogiri College, Aurangabad, for their kind cooperation and valuable support.
| References | | |
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Correspondence Address:
Amul Late
Department of Environmental Science, Dr. B.A.M. University, Aurangabad
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1463-1741.64971
[Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3]
[Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3] |
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