Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Journal of Young Scientist", Vol. 10
Written by Paul BOCU, Alexandru PETRUȘ, Patric BUTNARIU, Gabriel LECA
Environmental noise is a pervasive pollutant that adversely affects the health and well-being of European citizens and wildlife. Although noise is a product of many human activities, the most widespread sources of environmental noise are those related to transport. As a result, noise caused by transport is considered the second most significant environmental cause of ill health in Europe, behind fine particulate matter pollution (WHO and JRC, 2011; Hänninen et al., 2014). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), prolonged exposure to environmental noise is associated with an increased risk of negative physiological and psychological health outcomes (WHO, 2018). These include cardiovascular and metabolic effects, cognitive impairment in children, as well as severe annoyance and sleep disturbance. With projections of rapid urban growth and an increased demand for transport, a simultaneous increase in noise exposure and the associated adverse effects can be anticipated (Jarosińska et al., 2018). The transposition of Directive 2002/49/EC of European Parliament and of the Council relating to the assessment and the management of environmental noise in Romania was achieved by Law no.121/2019 regarding the assessment and management of ambient noise. This law addresses the avoidance, prevention or reduction of harmful effects, including discomfort, caused by the population's exposure to ambient noise, through the progressive implementation of the following measures: the determination of exposure to environmental noise, through noise mapping, ensuring that information on environmental noise and its effects is made available to the public, adopting, based on the results of noise mapping, action plans to prevent and reduce ambient noise, where appropriate, in particular where exposure levels may cause harmful effects on human health, and to maintain ambient noise levels below defined limit values according to art. 4 point 19, if they are not exceeded. In order to evaluate noise pollution, common methods have been established at the level of the countries of the European Union. These methods evaluate environmental noise and define limit values, based on harmonized indicators to determine the noise level. The purpose of this work is to present the importance of quiet green recreation areas for people's health. In order to achieve this objective, in this paper we present the method of obtaining comparative geospatial noise maps in crowded intersections (Arcul de Triumf and Casa Presei) and green areas (King Mihai I Park and Herăstrau Agronomy Campus) located in the northern part of Bucharest. To obtain the acoustic pressure values, we used the Sound Meter Coolexp application and a digital sound intensity measuring device - Uni-t UT353 sound meter. We used the obtained data to create geospatial noise maps with the QGIS application.
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