## 1 Introduction  
The impact of environmental noise on people residing in urban areas is a subject of interest due to its negative effects on well-being and various spheres of human health [1; 2; 3; 4]. Although various types of noise sources are present in cities, transport infrastructure is the main cause of noise [5; 6; 7], and road traffic has been identified as the most significant source [8]. In this context, a target has been set in Europe to reduce the number of people chronically disturbed by transport noise by 30% by 2030 [9]. Strategic noise maps have become a very useful tool, both for assessing the acoustic situation of a given environment and for implementing action plans for transport noise mitigation [10; 11; 12]. However, given that the reality in urban environments is often fairly complex, due to the presence of noise sources whose behaviour cannot always be predictedby software models, it is essential to carry out in situ acoustic measurements to validate the results provided by noise maps for noise indicators [13; 14; 15]. Several strategies can be followed to reduce the exposure of the population to environmental noise in cities, such as those associated with changes in urban mobility, actions on the noise sources, and pedestrianisation of urban areas [16; 17; 18]. The scientific literature also shows that variables associated with urban planning are closely linked to noise pollution in cities, and that it would be advisable to take them into consideration in the process of the urban development of cities [19; 20; 21]. These measures can also be combined with other initiatives that contribute to improving the sense of well-being of people living in cities, such as increasing the number of green urban areas to provide quiet and less-polluted spaces for relaxation and leisure activities [22; 23; 24; 25]. However, another aspect that is just as important as collecting objective data on noise levels in a given environment to assess the acoustic situation is an understanding of people's subjective perception of the sound quality of urban spaces [26; 27; 28]. Research carried out by means of questionnaires allows for the collection of useful information on people's satisfaction and annoyance with different features of urban environments, including noise [29; 30; 31; 32; 33]. Surveys have also been used to study noise disturbance to activities such as conversing, thinking, reading and resting, as well as the effects of noise such as irritability, starle, and annoyance in the ears [34; 31]. From data collected via on-site sound registers and questionnaires, the association between people's perceptions of urban noise and objective sound variables can be analysed. Noise indicators such as \(\mathrm{L_{Aeq}}\), \(\mathrm{L_{eq}}\), \(\mathrm{L_{dr}}\), \(\mathrm{L_{Aeq,24h}}\), \(\mathrm{L_{min}}\), \(\mathrm{L_{max}}\), \(\mathrm{L_{N}}\), and \(\mathrm{L_{10}}\)-\(\mathrm{L_{90}}\) have been employed in the scientific literature to study the relationships between the characteristics of environmental noise and some of the effects it has on people [27; 30; 31; 35; 36]. Some of these indicators have shown, in previous studies on noise effects, a clear dose-response relationship, unlike the psychoacoustic parameters that are usually used in soundscape studies based on ISO 12913 [37]. The human response to environmental sounds is conditioned in a complex way by the energetic, spectral, and temporal characteristics of the sound wave and, of course, by the characteristics of individuals [38]. Two very broad lines of work are common for analysing the human response to sounds, the study of noise effects and the study of the soundscape. In this paper, the authors focus their attention on the study of the effects of noise on people in the urban environment. The term \"noise\" is commonly used for sounds that have negative human effects.