PROCEEDINGS of the
23rd International Congress on Acoustics
9 to 13 September 2019 in Aachen, Germany

Estimating dose-response relationship of Shinkansen railway noiseusing noise mapping
Yasuhiro HIRAGURI1; Akinori FUKUSHIMA2; Takashi MORIHARA3; Shigenori YOKOSHIMA4
1
2
3

Kindai University, Japan

NEWS Environmental Design Inc., Japan

National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Ishikawa College, Japan
4

Kanagawa Environmental Research Center, Japan

ABSTRACTUp until now, in Japan, the dose-response relationship of Shinkansen railway noise has been estimated using
measurement-based noise exposure levels as dose value. The noise exposure levels at the house of
respondents were calculated by assuming a line sound source and a noise attenuation due to buildings was
not considered. In this paper, we propose a noise mapping technique of Shinkansen-railway by using a pointsound source model and re-estimate the dose-response relationship of Shinkansen railway noise.
Keywords: Noise mapping, Shinkansen railway noise, Dose-response relationship

1. INTRODUCTION
The dose-response relationship of traffic noise is key data to understand the total amount of traffic
noise impact on residents and to develop the environmental noise standard in Japan. To estimate thedose-response relationship, the noise exposure levels at the house of respondents of the questionnaire
survey have to be accurately estimated. Up until now, in Japan, the dose value has been estimatedusing measurement-based noise levels. There could be any number of reasons why they usedmeasurement-based noise levels as dose value. It is thought that the main reason is the Environmental
Quality Standards for Shinkansen Superexpress Railway Noise [1]. The noise levels are measured and) of each of the Shinkansen trains
evaluated using the peak noise level. The peak noise levels ( ,passing in both directions for 20 successive trains are measured. After that, the Shinkansen railway
noise is evaluated by the energy mean value of the higher half of the measured peak noise levels.
Furthermore, the noise levels for dose value have not been considered the noise attenuation by houses
because of the unestablished digital national base map. Recent years have seen rapid progress inestablishing such detailed digital national base map on a scale of one to 2,500 by the Geospatial
Information Authority of Japan and in establishing transportation noise mapping techniques. In thispaper, we propose a noise mapping technique of Shinkansen-railway by using a point sound source
model and re-estimate the dose-response relationship of Hokuriku Shinkansen Superexpress railway
noise.

2. TARGET AREA
The social survey was conducted in November 2016 in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures on
detached houses along the Hokuriku Shinkansen railway [2]. The target houses were all detachedhouses within 150m from the centerline of upside and downside lines. In this paper, the target area toestimate the Shinkansen railway noise map is a residential district with detached houses and is locatedin Toyama Prefecture, Japan (Fig. 1). The area is with 1.2 km length and within 100 m from the1

hiraguri@arch.kindai.ac.jp
fuku-new@wonder.ocn.ne.jp
3morihara@ishikawa-nct.ac.jp
4yokoshima.7c7q@pref.kanagawa.jp
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centerline of upside and downside lines because of applicable limitation of the Shinkansen railway
noise estimation model. In this area, the Hokuriku Shinkansen is operated 92 numbers of trains perday, and it is not operated from 24:00 to 6:00 due to restrictions (Table 1). The Hokuriku Shinkansen
uses the E7 series of train type and it consists of a twelve-car train.

Figure 1 – Aerial view of the target area. The green buffer shows the estimation area within 100 metersfrom the center line of the Hokuriku Shinkansen rail track. The houses of respondent are a part of theblack filled buildings.
Table 1 – Number of trains in operation per day
Upside line
Downside line
Total
Day (7:00 – 17:00)

30

33

63

Evening (17:00 – 22:00)

9

8

17

Night (22:00 – 7:00)

5

7

12

Total

44

48

92

3. ESTIMATION OF NOISE EXPOSURE
3.1 Procedure of Estimating Shinkansen Railway NoiseAs mentioned above, the evaluation value of the Environmental Quality Standard for Shinkansen
Superexpress Railway Noise is generally used the ,. Because of the comparison of the doseresponse relationship with other countries in our future research, however, the Lden is used as
evaluation value in this paper.
The Shinkansen railway noise consists of four noise sources; (a) two pantographs noise source per
twelve-car train, (b) two rolling noise sources per car, (c) two structure-borne noise sources of viaductper car and (d) one aerodynamic noise source per car. For each noise source, the A-weighted singleevent sound exposure level (LAE) is estimated from the unit pattern when one Shinkansen railway
passes separately for the upside and downside lines using the Shinkansen railway noise estimation
model [3]. After that, the Lden is calculated taking into account the number of operations by each timezone. However, since sound source data of the E7 series has not been published yet, so the data of theE2 series is adopted for estimation. The procedure for calculating noise propagation is as follows.

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1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

8)
9)

The SHAPEFILE formatted data of the center line of the Shinkansen railway and the outlineof buildings are obtained through the web site of the Geospatial Information Authority ofJapan [4].
The noise barrier of the viaduct is created by feature buffering based on the center line.
The height and width of viaduct are referred to the drawing sheets or survey results.
The feature of center line represents the position of the noise source of (c) structure-borne
noise sources of viaduct.
The features of center lines of upside and downside line are created based on drawing sheetsor survey results. These features represent the position of the noise source of (a) pantographs
noise source and (b) rolling noise sources.
The discrete noise source points are created 1 m intervals on each feature and are given thedB depending on the traveling speed as the property
A-weighted sound power levelvalue. The values of traveling speed used in this paper are shown in Table 2.
The position of aerodynamic noise source changes depending on the spatial relationshipbetween the position of noise source and receiver. Therefore, the relationship is judged in eachcase, and then the noise source is created on one side to the travel direction. The perpendiculardistance from the noise source to the center line is half of the width of the track.
The features of receivers are created at the intervals of 2.5 m outer side of the buildings (Fig.
4 (a)).
The A-weighted sound pressure level, , dB for noise propagation from the th noise
source position of the th noise source type to the receiver is calculated with following
equations of One-path method. The diffraction is assumed double diffraction at the noisebarrier and the edge of building as the knife-edge diffraction.
,,

,,
,,

8

20 log

,, ,

,, ,

(1)
(2)

,, ,

20
,, ,

,

5

10 log.

17 ∙ sinh

min 0, 5

,

, ,

,0

, ,
.

17 ∙ sinh

, ,

1

,

1,

(3)

0

where
, , is the A-weighted sound power level of a running train [dB],, is the direct
distance from the th noise source position of the th noise source type to the receiver, thecoefficient.is defined as 0.4 considering with the spectrum of the Shinkansen noise [5]and , , is the path difference. The function “min [a, b]” gives the smallest value of a andb.
10) The sound exposure level LAE is calculated with the following equation considering thecorrection value. The values used in this paper are shown in Table 2.
10 log

∑ ∑

∙ 10

,,

,

(4)

is defined as the number of noise source per twelve-car train, for instance, thewherenumber of the rolling noise sources is 24 per twelve-car train.
11) Theis calculated in consideration of the number of trains in operation per day (Table
1).
3.2 Result of Measurement and Estimation of Noise Exposure Levels, the measurement was conducted at 25m distance from the centerline of the
To calculate theupside and downside line by using the sound level meter (RION NL-31, 32, 42 and 62). The height of
the receiver was 1.2m from the ground. In the measurement, the instantaneous values of the soundpressure level at intervals of 100 milliseconds were recorded in the SLM’s memory. The recordings
were carried out against six trains passing through upside line and seven trains passing throughdownside line. To estimate the traveling speed of trains, at the same time, the trains passing throughwere
were recorded with a video camera. After the measurements, the traveling speed and thecalculated in our laboratory.
Relationship between the measured
and the traveling speed (left figure) and between the1641and the estimated(right figure) are illustrated in Fig. 2. It is understood from themeasured
figure that the trends of the upside and downside are different. When the trains passed through theupside line, thebecomes higher with faster running speed of the train, but when the trains passed
through the downside line, thebecomes lower with faster running speed of the train. At the timeof writing this paper, we cannot understand the reason why the trends ofare different betweenlines, therefore, a more detailed measurement will be carried out in our future studies. The estimatedwhen the trains pass through the upside line is approximately 2 dB less than the measured values.
On the other hand, when the trains pass through the downside line with faster than 180 km/h, theestimated and measured
has good correlation. As a result, to estimate the noise exposure levels
at each respondent’s house, the average running speed and the difference of energy based average of
between the estimation value and measurement value at each line are defined as in table 2. Anexample of the noise exposure level mapping is illustrated in Fig. 3. The state of the noise attenuation
caused by buildings and the incursion of noise in the residential area along the roads is confirmed
visually.

80

80

down side

up side78

Measured LAE [dB]

Measured LAE [dB]up sideR² = 0.78

76
74
72

R² = 0.98

down side

78
76
74
72
70

70
150

175
200
225
Vehicle speed [km/h]

70

250

72

74
76
78
Estimated LAE [dB]80

and the traveling speed (left figure) and between
Figure 2 – Relationship between the measured
the measured
and the estimated. The location of the measurement and estimation point are
25 m distance from the centerline and the height is 1.2m from the ground.

Table 2 – Traveling speed of Shinkansen and the correction value of

Average running speedof train [km/h]
A

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[dB]

Upside line

Downside line

204.0

186.7

-2.9

2.0

at each line.

Figure 3 –Noise exposure level map when a train passes through upside line.

3.3 Influence of Interval of Receiver Points on Estimation Accuracy
The representative noise exposure level at the residential buildings is assigned to evaluate doseresponse relationship or to assess the population exposure to noise. Generally, the maximum noiselevel in front of the building façades of the residential buildings is calculated [6]. The noise level atreceiver points in front of the building façades can be calculated directly from the noise source points
without using the noise map. Considering the profit of estimating noise map of the whole urban area
while the high computational load, however, it is useful that the noise level at receiver points is
calculated indirectly by over-layering with a noise map. Accordingly, in this section, we discuss the
optimal interval of the receiver points in the view of the maximum noise level in front of the façades
at each building.
(a) Location of receivers (interval: 2.5 m)(b) Noise map (interval: 2.5 m)(c) Noise map (interval: 5.0 m)(d) Noise contour (interval: 10.0 m)

Figure 4 – Receiving points and noise map.

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The intervals of receiver points were varied 2.5 m, 5.0 m, and 10.0 m. The noise levels at every
receiver points were estimated and then the noise maps were calculated using the spline interpolation
method (the resolution after interpolation was 1.0 x 1.0 m). The results of calculating the noise maps
are illustrated in Fig. 4. The noise levels in the case when the intervals are 5.0 m and 10.0 m do notlook like correct in the case of behind the buildings or the narrow space between the buildings
comparing with when the intervals of 2.5 m. The reason of difference is mainly due to the case of few
receiving points. The receiver points are less likely to be located at such places, and the noise levels
at the places are lower than other places. Therefore, the interpolated noise levels based on higher noiselevels around such places tend to become higher than the real situation. Figure 5 shows the differenceof noise levels from the case of 2.5 m of intervals. As mentioned above, the noise levels behind thebuildings tend to become lower than in other places. From the viewpoint of the maximum noise levelof each building, however, the noise levels may not be different between the case of the intervals of
2.5 m and 5.0 m.
(a) Difference of noise levels (5.0 m minus 2.5 m)

contspli3-4d<セル値>～ -7.0-6.9 ～ -5.0
-4.9 ～ -3.0
-2.9 ～ -1.0
-0.9 ～ +1.0
+1.1 ～ +3.0
+3.1 ～ +5.0
+5.1 ～ +7.0
+7.1 ～(b) Difference of noise levels (10.0 m minus 2.5 m)

contspli5-4d<セル値>～ -7.0-6.9 ～ -5.0
-4.9 ～ -3.0
-2.9 ～ -1.0
-0.9 ～ +1.0
+1.1 ～ +3.0
+3.1 ～ +5.0
+5.1 ～ +7.0
+7.1 ～

Figure 5 – Difference of noise levels from the case of 2.5 m of intervals.
3.4 Result of Estimating Noise Exposure Levels of Respondent’s houses
were estimated for 52 respondents of the social survey by using the noise
The noise levels
map. Figure 6 shows the comparison betweenof respondents estimating based on measurement

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values and the noise map. The noise levels based on measurement are varied only from 47 dB to 50
dB because the values do not consider the attenuation caused by the buildings. On the other hand, thenoise levels based on the noise map are varied from 39 dB to 54 dB.

Measurement based Lden [dB]

55
50
45
40
35
35

40
45
50
Noise map based Lden [dB]55

Figure 6 – Comparison of the noise levels between the measurement-based
based.

and the noise map-

4. COMPARISON OF DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIP
Figure 7 shows the relationship between community response and noise exposure level. In thispaper, the ratio of respondents who chose either the top 2 categories in the 5-point verbal scale isdefined as % highly annoyed [7]. Although the dose-response relationship is generally described withthe logistic regression curve, it is not adopted in this paper because of the few samples. Both of themtend to become higher with higher noise levels.

100

Measurement

Estimation%HA [%]

80
60
40
20
0
40

45
50
Lden [dB]55

Figure 7 – Dose-response relationship due to noise annoyance.

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5. CONCLUSIONSIn this paper, we proposed a noise mapping technique of Shinkansen-railway by using a pointsound source model and re-estimate the dose-response relationship of Hokuriku Shinkansen
Superexpress railway noise. The interval of receiver points may set less than 5.0 m from the viewpointof the maximum noise level as the representative value of buildings. The noise level estimated with
the noise map was much more widely varied than those estimated based on the measurement. In future
research, we have to confirm the accuracy of the result of the noise map by conducting more detailed
noise measurements. Furthermore, we will evaluate the dose-response relationship against all of the
respondents of the social survey along the Hokuriku Shinkansen Superexpress railway.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The present study was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientists Research of Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (No. 15K06341 and 18K04472).

REFERENCES
1. Ministry of the Environment Japan, Environmental Quality Standards for Shinkansen Superexpress
Railway Noise, https://www.env.go.jp/en/air/noise/railway.html
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environment along the Hokuriku Shinkansen railway. Proc ICA 2019; 9-13 September 2019; Aachen,
Germany 2019.
3. Nagakura K, Zenda Y, Tachibana H. The Method of Predicting the Way-side Noise Level of Shinkansen.
Technical Committee Meeting on Noise and Vibration. 2000; N-2000-01. (in Japanese)
4. https://fgd.gsi.go.jp/download/menu.php
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Shinkansen Superexpress Railway. Proc Spring Meeting of INCE/J. 2018, p. 59-62. (in Japanese)
6. Stylianos Kephalopoulos, Marco Paviotti, Fabienne Anfosso-Lédée. Common Noise Assessment
Methods in Europe (CNOSSOS-EU). Publications Office of the European Union. 2012.
7. J.M. Fields, et al. Standardized general-purpose noise reaction questions for community noise surveys:
research and a recommendation, Journal of Sound and Vibration. 2001, 242(4), p. 641-679.

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