Auralisation: Distance and terrain effect on noise

How much does terrain and distance influence the noise from traffic?

Noise is normally reduced with increasing distance. But the actual noise reduction depends on the acoustical properties of the terrain.

Acoustically soft terrain like field soil reduces noise more efficiently than acoustically hard ground does, e.g. asphalt etc.

These examples show the effect of hard and soft terrain at different distances from the road. The traffic situation corresponds to the evening situation.

Instructions

Please connect your headset to your computer. Make sure that the left and right channels are set correctly.

Start by pressing the black boxes. During playback you can jump between options.

You should not adjust the volume as this will change the adjustment you have already made in order to calibrate your system.

The auralisations are developed in cooperation with the Danish Road Directorate.

Good to know

GUIDELINE: How to listen to auralisations
How to listen to auralisations

You can adjust the sound level of your playback system (PC, tablet, or smartphone) using the sound file for adjustment of volume on this page.

Adjust the level to the point where it sounds like a person speaking at normal volume one meter in front of you. You can compare it to a real person speaking at a meter’s distance. You may have to adjust the level a couple of times before you’re confident the level is right.

Get the most out of auralisations

In order to get the most out of the auralisations, you should do the following:
1. Read the prerequisites below. You get the full information on the different situations (traffic flow, type of road etc.) in the grey tabs below.
2. Adjust the “playback level” as described to get the correct volume in your headset.
3. Listen to the auralisations by clicking the appropriate text in the box. When the sound files are loaded into your browser you can instantly switch between different sound files – which makes differences appear immediately.
Enjoy!