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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
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COMMUNICATIONFROMTHECOMMISSION TOTHECOUNCIL
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CCKKUBIEATIQir FECltTEECCMMISSIQJT TOBISCOUKCIL
concerningth®detsnaixi&tion oforiteriaforIToise
IGE&EBAL
1,Thisoomimsnication concerningthedetermination oforiteriafornoise
ispresentedwithintheframeworkofthe"ProgrammeofActionofth®
EuropeanCojrramnitiesonth®Environment"(PartII,TitleIj»which
requiresthatanobjectiveevaluationoftheriskstohujeanhealth
andtoth®environment frompollutioniscarriedout.
2«Criteriaestablishtherelationship "betweenagivenexposureandan
observable'effectonhumanhealthortheenvironment ;theyair®animpor­
tantelementintheobjectiveevaluationoftheundesirableeffectsor
danger#inherentinanygivennuisance*
3#Kois®wasehoseaasone©fthepollutantsforpriorityinvestigation on
theground#ofthecurrentstateofknowledgeofitssignificanceiathehealthfield,
4*Inpreparingthiscommunication thaCommissionhasbeengaid&dbythe
principlesdefinedinth®abovementioned"ActionFrograaffis",Thefollo­
wingtaskshavebeanundertaken ?
-compilationofascompleteabibliography aspossibleontheeffects
andpollutionlevelsofnoise5
-acriticalanalysisofthisinformation-and,asaresult-,-thedetermination ofcriteria®
5*Meetingsofnationalexpertshavebeenheldtodiscussandtocritically
analysetheavailablebibliography ontheadverseorundesirableeffects
oftheexposureofmantonoise*Theresultsofthisworkaregivenin
"DamageandAnnoyancecausedbyHoise"(documentI®5398®,rapporteurs *
H®Baatenier,W„Klosterksftissr andJ»B«Large,annexed)*Thesemeetings
alsoapprovedthaoriteriacontainedinthiscoiawunication *
6«Thesecriteriahavebeenselectedfromepidemiological ,occupational actd
experimental studiesfor®an»Ithasnotbeenpossibletoconsiderthe
long-termeffectsofsleepdisturb^aoeasinsufficientdataisav&ilable,
aaidfurtherresearchisnec®B®argr ,»
7.Th®C©MissionhasalsotakenIntoaoco'tmtth®workperforatedatnv&ivml
axsdinternational 1®v®1«lapwrtioulwitha-accaai&eredth®report
publishedtheW»H«0#(Geneva)ia1972,eotltlaft"HealthH&zajcd®ofth#
HunanEnvironment M.®sitr«lsvt®3tonets®*
*OJU®C11220/12/1973

1
8.Inthedetermination ofsomeofthese criteria (especially annoyance )
itwasconsidered thatspecific noise sources such asaircraft ,traffic
musical noise etc.were likely toproduce different levels ofacceptability .
Theexposure /effect curves foreach type ofnoise were notidentical .
9.Itwasalso considered thatbecause thereactions ofindividual members
ofthegeneral population ,varyvery considerably inrelation tonoise ,
sowill theperceived effects ofnoise vary .
10.Inthedetermination ofthese criteria thepopulation atawhole was
considered .Insomecasea special considerations havebeen applied to
hypersensitive sections ofthepopulation ,forexample ,oldpeople ,the
sick andthe very young .
11>Thiscommunication concerning thedetermination ofcriteria fornoise does
notcover vibrations ,andultrasonic andinfrasonic waves ,which will b®
thesubjects offurther studies ,
12»Th®®® criteria willb#r**d.s«& m«zdwfesanmdatabecoae *availabl® .
\
982/3/76β

-3„
II CRITERIA ESTAMJSHTl'Gf TH3RSLATIOEBHIP BETfrUgg SITES ?EZPQ3VR ISAW IS
EFFECTS FHOM SOISS –
Thefollowing relationships between given exposures andobservable effects *
have been selected for ;
!
1.Sleep interférence
2.Speech interférence
3.Annoyance
4.Performance oftasks
5.Hearing damage
InAnnex Ithe definitions aregiven®
1.Sleep Interférence
1.1Reports ofsleep disturbance orawakening aremade byabout 10%of
thesubjects tested ,irrespective ofthecause ,when exposed toanindoor
equivalent continous sound level of38dB(A )»Steady noise inthis
respect signifies fluctuation ?oflevel ofless than 5dB «
1.2 Thepattern ofsleep (e.g. EEG)ischanged forabout 20Xofsubjects
tested when exposed toanindoor equivalent continuous sound level of
^40dB(A )and forabout 50Xfor alevel of50dB(A ).
1.3 Changed activation ofthecentral nervous system ,which maylead to
awakening ,isobserved ifanincrease ofSOdBormore occurring in
0,5sec .orless issuperimposed onacontinuous background level .
1.4 Reduced sleeping ability oftheparticularly sensitive population
(e.g. old ,sick ,convalescent )hasbeen demonstrated atvalues approxi­
mately 10dBbelow those mentioned above .
2.Speech Interférence
2.1 Aéquivalent continuons Sound level o£65dE(Â )makes normal conversation
just possible at 1mette .
2.2 Aequivalent continuous sound Isve' :.of45dB(A )orless provides rso
problems for relaxer *conve^ss i-io 'iatadistance of 1metre# Atgreater
distances speech intelligibility .squires lower levels ,
982/3/76e

" 34
2.3 Inparticular situations where thecontents ofthemessage must becom­
pletely understood ,forexample teaching inclassrooms andEtedical
consultations ,,thelevels ofbackground noise should preferably be
lOdB lower than those ofparagraphs 2.1and2.2 .
2.4 Fortelevision viewing ,listening totheradio ,ortelephone conver­
sation ,incases where thebackground noise levels show large variations
with time ,equivalent continuous sound levels should beabout 5ciBlower
than those ofparagraphs 2.1 and2.2 .
3.Annoyance
3.1 Under average town living conditions ,outside noise which einanates from
transportation andindustrial sources of50dB(A )daytime equivalent
continuous noise levels will generally cause about 15%ofthepopu­
lation tobehighly annoyed ,65dB(A )will generally cause about 40%
ofthepopulation tobehighly annoyed .
3.2 Innoisier living conditions ,city centres andnear industrial Bites ,
somewhat higher noise levels will correspond totheabove described
effects .Ontheother hand inquieter situations such asrural ateag
thesame effects will occur atcorrespondingly lower levels *
Tones andimpulsive noises present intheenvironment increase thelevel
ofannoyance ateach value oftheequivalent noise level .
3.3 During periods where thesensitivity tonoise isgreater ,such asperiods
ofrest orrelaxation ,thecorresponding noise levels arelower .
4.Performance oftasks
Thefindings oflaboratory work show ingeneral' that :
4.1 Asteady noise ,without special significance ,would notappear tointer­
fere with wosthuman activities that require noacoustic information
inorder tobecarried out .This issoeven where thesteady level is
relatively high ,possibly ashigh es90dB(A ).
4.2 Intermittent orimpulsive noise hasamore marked disturbing effect
than steady noise .
4.3 High frequency noise components (above about 2000Hz )usually cause worse
interference with performance than dolowfrequency components .
4.4 Noise does nothave anotable effect onoverall performances -buthigh
levels ofnoise cancause variations intheperformance ofsequential
tasks .There canhere beacomplete breakdown ofperformance oratotal
absence ofreaction tostimuli „sometimes followed by&compensating
improvement .
982/3/76βι
!

-5-
4.5 Noise affects thequality ofwork more than thequantity .
4.6 Complicated tasks ,demanding considerable concentration ,arensore
easily influenced bynoise then aresimple tasks
5.Hearing damage
TWg^ui––iiifi■■■■■■!■> IiiniiiTffa
High level noise cancause permanent impairment tohearing ,separate
from that which canoccur duetoageandillness ,andwhich canlead
toahandicap .Such ahandicap canbeavoided forthegreat majority
ofthepopulation ifthenoise level towhich they areexposed over
their whole lifetime isless than a24–hour daily value ofequivalent
continuous sound level ,Leq ,of80dB(A )«This level corresponds toa
value over 8hours daily of85dB(A )5with higher levels of 'continuous
noise therisk ofhearing damage isincreased unless exposure times
areshortened .Thedamage risk isgreater iftheearisexposed to
very high absolute sound pressure -thehuman earisindanger of
being damaged bynoise having aninstantaneous value greater than
J50dB .
982/3/76.

ANNEX I
DEFINITION
Criteria Theterm "criterion signifies therelationship between the iexpo-
sure ofatarget topollution ornuisance ,and therisk and/orthe ,
magnitude oftheadverse orundesirable effect resulting from the
exposure ingiven circumstances .
Annoyance isafeeling ofdispleasure experienced bytheindividual .Itis
asubjective response to"hecombined effects ofdisturbance andfactors
ofapsychological ,sociological ,physiological ,economic nature ,etc ,
which maybeunrelated totheprimary disturbance .
Background Noise The total ofallnoise inasystem orsituation ,apart
from that ofthesignal .Inpopular usage theterm "background noise "
isalso used with thesame meaning as"residual noise ".
Handicap (Hearing handicap )Theoccupational andsocial difficulty experienced
byaperson who has ahearing loss .
Impulse Nois e(Impulsive noise )Noise ofshort duration (typically ,-less
than onesecond )especially ofhigh intensity ,abrupt onset andrapid
decays aRdoften rapidly changing spectral composition .(Impulse noise
ischaracteristically associated with such sources asexplosions ,impacts ,
thedischarge offirearms ,thepassage ofsupersonic aircraft (sonic
boom ),andmany industrial processes ).
Intermitt entNoise Noise which lapts more than one second but which is
interrupted byintervals during which only background noise canbeheard .
Fluctuating noise Noise whose levels show clearly perceptible fluctuations
with time .
A-weighted sound level Theeardoes notrespond equally tofrequencies ,
butisless effTcient atlowandhigh frequencies than itisatmedium
orspeech range frequencies .Thus ,toobtain asingle number repre­
senting thesound level ofanoise containing awide range offrequen­
cies inamanner representative oftheear'sresponse ,itisnecessa­
rytoreduce ,orweight ,theeffects ofthelowandhigh frequencies
with respect tothemedium frequencies .Theresultant sound level in
dBissaid tobeA-weighted .TheA-weighted sound level isalso called
thenoise level .Sound level meters have anA-weignting network for
measuring A-weighted sound level .
982/3/76e