Human response to railway vibration in residential environments : exposure-response relationships and modifying factors

Peris, E

Abstract

ror understanding me wide variation in annoyance reactions, i^esuiis
investigations made on factors coming into play when considering
This thesis aims to contribute to the knowledge of human response to vibration in
residential environments and identify factors of primary importance when
considering exposure-response relationships from railway vibration. It has previously
been shown that annoyance increases with vibration magnitude. However, these
correlations between annoyance and physical ratings are weak. This suggests that
vibration-induced annoyance is governed by more than just vibration level, and that
simple exposure-response relationships alone do not provide sufficient information
for the reactions. Results of
an
exposure-response relationship between level of vibration and annoyance are
presented here.
The factors investigated were time of day, situational factors, demographic and
attitudinal factors. This was achieved using data from case studies comprised of
face-to-face interviews and internal vibration measurements (N=755) collected
within the study "Human Response to Vibration in Residential Environments" by the
University of Salford. Exposure-response relationships were estimated from ordinal
logit models.
It was found that exposure-response relationships between annoyance scores and
vibration exposure were strongly influenced by two attitudinal factors (property
damage concern and expectations about future levels of vibration). One situational
factor (location of the property) and one demographic factor (Age) were found to
have an important effect on annoyance whereas visibility of the railway and time spent at home showed small but statistically significant influence. Time of day when
the vibration occurs was also shown to play a role in the self-reported annoyance,
with evening and night-time being the most sensitive periods. The additional
annoyance is equivalent to 17 dB for the night and 8 dB for the evening for a rms Wk
s\ of 0.01 m/s in the day. The relation between activity disturbance and exposure
suggests that sleeping and resting are the activities most affected by railway induced
vibration. These results indicate that future railway vibration policies and regulations
focusing on community impact need to explore specific scenarios and new vibration
indices in order to facilitate an optimal assessment of railway effects on residential
environments.

Citation

Peris, E. Human response to railway vibration in residential environments : exposure-response relationships and modifying factors. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jul 28, 2021
• Award Date: Mar 1, 2012