Railways noise assessment in urban area for evaluating health effects

Study on the Effects of Airport Noise (SERA) was carried out by some of the authors between 2012 and 2013. The results shown a correlation between the airport noise levels greater than 55 dB(A) and high blood pressure, sleep disturbance and annoyance. Following the same methodology we performed a measurement campaign in the city of Pisa in order to characterize the noise impact of the railway infrastructure in the urban environment. We paid particular attention to analyse the sources of railway noise not simply referable to transiting, but more generally related to railway operations, which are usually neglected in the noise modeling. The choice of the measuring points is based on railway infrastructure characteristics and on the receptors distribution. A sample of 100 people between the ages of 35 and 70 who live in near these points from a minimum of 5 years was selected for the questionnaires through personal interviews. The results of the interviews and the measurements are used to verify the existence of a correlation between various aspects of railway noise using LDEN and a number of factors including blood pressure, annoyance and sleep disturbance.