How is exposure to road traffic noise measured/assessed?

Population exposure to road traffic noise was calculated using three data sources: a European-wide population dataset at a resolution of 250 metres, a European-wide building-type dataset containing information on residential buildings and the noise maps. For each city, the population was distributed among the buildings. The population in each building was assigned a noise exposure equivalent to the exposure values shown in the intersecting fragment of the corresponding noise map.

When cities within a country had missing data, a predictive model to estimate exposure to road traffic noise was constructed. The model is built using data from other cities’ noise maps and takes into consideration other variables such as the road network and the city population and size.