Statistical analysis of acoustic data. Combining objective and subjective measures

This paper presents a statistical approach to analyze a set of data collected by QUADMAP (QUiet Areas Definition and Management in Action Plans), a LIFE+2010 Project on Quiet Urban Areas (QUAs). This Project aims to define a method regarding identification, outlining, characterization, improvement and managing of QUAs as meant in the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC. The project will also help to understand the definition of a QUA, the meaning and the “added value” for the city and their citizens in terms of health, social safety and lowering stress levels. At the beginning of 2013 the first version of a methodology to select, analyze and manage QUAs has been produced and subsequently applied in ten pilot areas chosen in Firenze, Bilbao and Rotterdam. During the analysis phase, quantitative (noise maps and acoustic measurements) and qualitative (end-users questionnaires, general and non-acoustic information) data have been collected and examined. Once the ante-operam phase of analysis has been completed, the interventions’ realization in the pilot areas started and was followed by post-operam surveys. Logistic models are applied to part of the quantitative (noise measurements) and qualitative (results of interviews about noise perception in an urban setting) data collected in the city of Florence during the ante-operam phase. The results underline the importance of the survey’s design, in order both to obtain information combining the different type of data and to be able to evaluate the net effect of single variables.