Percentage of urban population exposed to noise level Lnight > 50 dB

Data source
Lden and Lnight. The NOISE database is provided by the EEA (8). Data is directly derived from the downloadable data and not from the graphic interface.

The self-reported noise perception data are derived from the Eurostat SILC-survey, which is yearly carried out in 130 000 households annually in EU Member States and several other European countries. The wording of the relevant question is:

Do you have any of the following problems with your accommodation or the area you live in?
(...)
Noise from neighbours or noise from the street (traffic, business, factories etc.)?
Yes .......... 1
No .......... 2
(...)

There are slight variations per nation, the most frequent is that “street” is replaced by “outside”.

Method for calculating the indicator
The Lden and Lnight indicators are chosen because relationships with adverse health effects have been well established and because a EU-wide dataset is available. As the intention is to protect populations from long term health effects, the noise exposure indicators are calculated as annual average noise levels at four meters above the ground at the building’s facade. Models are used to calculate the Lden and Lnight from input parameters like traffic density, speed, and composition, and from details about the surrounding environment like road surface, presence of absorbing soils and average meteorological conditions. Measurements are are used to verify models. Unfortunately, at the time the END entered into force in 2002, no common calculation method was available. Therefore, the Member States were allowed to use their national methods. Although there may be differences between models (18), according to the analysis by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) (19), such differences are relatively minor for the models used for the END noise mapping calculations. Nevertheless, the European Commission decided to prepare Common Noise aSSessment methOdS (CNOSSOS-EU) for road, railway, aircraft and industrial noise in order to improve the reliability and the comparability of results across the EU Member States (20) which improved accuracy and reliability of noise data.