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Most useful EPA documents
Understanding Noise and Noise Control - Instructional Units for Operating Engineers in Apprenticeship Programs
June 1978
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This document is designed to serve as the basis for a self-contained program of instruction addressing noise in the total environment of the operating engineer. It is designed to be used as an independent program of instruction for operating engineer apprentices, or to be integrated with other components of a complete apprenticeship training program.
A Unified Set of Models for Tire/Road Noise Generation
Kenneth J. Platkin; Eric Stusnick
July 1981
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A set of theoretical models has been prepared which describes the noise generated by tire/road interaction. The mechanisms considered are air pumping and carcass vibration. The models begin with a set of thin shell equations describing the motion of the belt of a radial ply tire, as derived by Bohm ("Mechanisms of the Belted Tire", Ingeniur-Archiv, KKKV, 1966). Structural quantities required for these equations are derived from material properties of the tire. The rolling shape of a tire is computed from the steady-state limit of these equations. Air pumping (monopole radiation from tread voids) is calculated by assuming that tread elements move passively on the deformed tire. Vibrational response of the tire is treated by the full time-dependent shell equations. The force input at the tire/road interface is calculated on the basis of tread geometry and distribution of contact patch pressure. This input is physically equivalent to the impulse distribution models widely used in the tire industry for tread pitch randomization. Subsequent radiation of sound is calculated by a Raleigh integral. These models have been embodied into a unified set of computer programs. Using the programs, the effect on noise of various tire design variations is computed and discussed. Trends which lead to low noise design are identified. A series of experiements are planned which will test the validity of the models, and provide a basis for their refinement before final documentation and dissemination.
United States Environmental Protection Agency - Bibliography of Noise Publications 1972-1982
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United States General Accounting Office - Testimony - Aviation Noise: A National Policy is Needed
Kenneth M. Mead
September 1990
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University Noise Research - Proceedings of the EPA-University Noise Seminar
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The purpose of the seminar, initiated and sponsored by EPA, was to help EPA and other government agencies become aware of university noise control surfaces. It is hoped that an undestanding of the nature, scope and results of such projects will be useful to government agencies in both their current programs and in their future planning in implementing the requirements of the Noise Control Act of 1972.
University of Southampton - Institute of Sound and Vibration Research - A Design Guide For Visual Displays and Manual Tasks in Vibration Environments - Part I: Visual Displays
M.J. Moseley; M.J. Griffin
May 1986
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Design guidance relevant to the effects of vibration on visual tasks is provided. The information shows how effects are related to characteristics of the vibration, the display and other aspects of the environment. Published experimental studies are used as the basis of a series of design recommendations which may be used to minimize the influence of vibration on visual tasks.
University of Southampton - Institute of Sound and Vibration Research - A Design Guide For Visual Displays and Manual Tasks in Vibration Environments - Part II: Manual Tasks
R.W. McLeod; M.J. Griffin
May 1986
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Design guidance relevant to the effects of vibration on visual tasks is provided. The information describes the mechanisms by which vibration may affect task performance and shows how effects are dependent upon characteristics of both the vibration environment and the task. Data from published experimental studies are used as the basis of a series of design recommendations which may be used to minimise the influence of vibration on manual tasks.
University of Southampton - Institute of Sound and Vibration Research - Auditory Impairment and the Onset of Disability and Handicap in Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
D.W. Robinson; P.A. Wilkins; N.J. Thyer; J.F. Lawes
November 1984
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An investigation was carried out on subjects with mild degrees of noise-induced hearing loss, in an endeavor to identify measurable characteristics of hearing that identify the points of onset of hearing disability (defined as difficulty in hearing speech in various circumstances) and of hearing handicap (defined as perceived social disadvantage resulting from the hearing loss), these concepts being understood to refer to average findings in a context of hearing loss prevention in industry. Data were obtained from five listening tests, including simulations of real life, and from self-assessment questionnaires, and compared in ease case with corresponding results for control groups of young and older otologically normal persons who underwent identical tests. The audiological status of subjects was measured by pure-tone audiometry, temporal resolution, frequency selectivity, and off-frequency listening affect. The most sensitive measure, and the one most closely correlated with performance and self-assessment, was the pure-tone audiogram. Percentage errors in different listening situations depend greatly on the kind of test material and the inherent difficulty of the acoustical context, and this applies irrespective of hearing loss. It is shown that the influence of test conditions is largely eliminated by comparing the performance of the impaired persons with the limit of the range of performance among normal persons. In this way an onset point for disability is identified as 30 dB hearing threshold level, average over 1, 2 and 3 kHz. In the case of handicap, there appears to be a continuous trend starting from normal hearing with no definable threshold of onset.
University of Southampton - Institute of Sound and Vibration Research - On The Prediction of Oil Layer Damping on Plates
L.C. Chow; R.J. Pinnington
May 1986
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High damping of machinery panels can be achieved using a sandwich construction consisting of an attached plate sandwiching a layer of fluid filled porous material. The vibration of the plate pumps the fluid laterally at high velocities, resulting in energy loss due to the fluid viscosity. Loss factors greater than 0.1 can be achieved with this layered configuration. However, if the gap is filled with the high viscosity fluid alone, the losses are very low. The ratio of the fluid dynamic viscosity and its density is the controlling parameter on the level of the losses. High loss factors are possible only if the fluid viscosity cna be increased by many orders of magnitude for liquids. The damping over the whole frequency range above and below the excited plate critical frequency is measured and compared with prediction. The agreement in results is good. The layered configurations are so strongly coupled that the loss factor measured onot te excited and the attached plates are the same.
University of Southampton - Institute of Sound and Vibration Research - The Application of Adaptive Filtering to the Active Control of Sound and Vibration
S.J. Elliott; P.A. Nelson
September 1985
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University of Southampton - Institute of Sound and Vibration Research - The Effect of Changes In Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure on the Labyrinth in Terms of Tympanic Membrane Displacement
J.J. Tweed; R.J. Marchbanks; A.M.. Martin
June 1905
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The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of changes in cochlear perilymphatic fluid pressure on the volume displacement of the tympanic membrane during acoustically induced reflex contractions of the stapedius muscle. These changes in perilymphatic pressure were induced by changing the body position of normal human subjects and thus varying the cerebrospinal fluid pressure at the head. The mechanisms by which changes in body posture affect cochlear fluid pressure have been investigated by a number of workers and this literature is also reviewed.
University of Southampton - Institute of Sound and Vibration Research - Whole-Body Vibration and Aircrew Performance
M.J. Griffin; R.W. McLeod; M.J. Moseley; C.E. Lewis
January 1986
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A programme of experimental research concerned with the effects of aircraft vibration on vision and manual control performance has been completed. Twenty-eight experiments were conducted, 16 investigating effects on vision and 12 investigating effects on manual control performance. Short summaries of the objectives, methods and findings of all 28 experiments are presented. References to publications providing full reports of each experiment are also provided.
Updating a Dosage-Effect Relationship for the Prevalence of Annoyance Due to General Transportation Noise
Sanford Fidell; David S. Barber; Theodore J. Schultz
September 1990
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More than a decade has passed since a relationship between community noise exposure and the prevalence of annoyance was synthesized by Schultz {T.J. Schultz, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 64. 377-405 (1978)} from the findings of a dozen social surveys. This quantitative dosage-effect relationship has been adopted as a standard means for predicting noise-induced annoyance in environmental assessment documents. The present effort updates the 1978 relationship with findings of social surveys conducted since its publication. Although the number of data points from which a new relationship was inferred more than tripled, the 1978 relationship still provides a reasonable fit to the data.
Urban Noise Counseling Program - Handbook for Urban Noise Counseling
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The following handbook has been written for you, the urban noise counselor. It contains both information and ideas which will help you in your efforts to improve the quality of life in your neighborhood. This handbook is a resource document as well as a workbook. You will read about the reasons for a noise counseling program, the role of the noise counselor, and some of the techniques a noise counselor can use in reducing neighborhood noise. You will also find some forms in the appendix which have been designed to help you set your objectives and to assist you in locating the key people in your community who can help you reach your objectives. In addition to this handbook, special training is available. This training can play an important part in your role as an urban noise counselor. However, you are not expected to become a technical expert in the properties of sound or in the intricate details of sound measurement. Your role is that of a catalyst, providing information, ideas, and direction to individuals, citizen groups, and perhaps public officials who can take action to reduce their own noise exposure as well as the exposure of others as a result of your efforts.
The Urban Noise Survey
Sanford Fidell
August 1977
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Most of the existing social survey data base on community annoyance has been in character and has been concerned primarily with airport and highway related noise. An essential element in assessing the impact of noise in urban areas away from airports and highways is the evaluation of the attitudes of people concerning the noise in the residential environment. A social survey was conducted to sample opinion over the entire range of noise exposure and population density characteristics of non-rural America.The objective of the Urban Noise Survey was to develop a first order relationship between noise exposure and human response as a function of situational and attitudinal variables associated with the life styles of people in various urban environments. This survey differed from prior surveys in the general area of noise pollution in several important aspects: (1) it was specifically designed to study noise exposure not directly related to airport and highway sources; (2) the social survey was made in conjunction with simultaneous physical measurements of noise exposure at sites with widely different noise environments; (3) it was national rather than local in character and was addressed to a broad rather than narrow range of noise exposures and respondents' life styles. Some of the major conclusions are that: (a) exposure to noise typical of many urban (non-aircraft and non-highway) environments produces widespread annoyance, speech interference, and sleep disturbance; (b) a strong relationship was demonstrated between exposure level and the proportion of a community highly annoyed by noise; (c) the prevalence of speech interference is an especially good predictor of annoyance; (d) the number of complaints about noise is a poor predictor of the prevalence of annoyance; (e) demographic factors alone are relatively poor predictors of noise annoyance; (f) freedom from noise exposure is a component of a neighborhood satisfaction, and quiet is highly valued; (g) noises associated with automotive sources are the most pervasive sources of annoying noise in urban areas; (h) annoyance associated with intrusive noise sources may be related to measurable noise exposure from such sources, even when their magnitudes are not as great as the level of overall exposure in a community; (i) there is some evidence that human response to noise exposure at Ldn values in excess of 70 dB is more acute than at lower levels.
Urban Traffic Noise - Strategy for an Improved Environment
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Noise Advisory Circular - Portable Air Compressors - Definition of "manufactured"
March 1978
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Noise Advisory Circular - Portable Air Compressors - Introductory Advisory Circular
January 1978
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Noise Advisory Circular - Portable Air Compressors - Meter Reading
May 1978
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Noise Advisory Circular - Portable Air Compressors - The Noise Enforcement Facility's Compressor Exchange Test Program
October 1978
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Policy and Implementation Questions
April 1977
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On November 10, 1976, a notice was published in the Federal Register of the availability for public comment of a draft of a national strategy for noise abatement and control. The October draft of the Strategy document stated a number of policy and implementation questions on which public comments and suggestions were invited. The comments received contributed to some of the revisions contained in the current edition, "Toward a National Strategy for Noise Control." In addition, there were other comments received that will assist in improving the national noise strategy. In the case of some other noise comments received, it was not possible in the intervening time period to include a satisfactory resolution of the specific issue in the revised Strategy. These issues are given attention in this addendum. Further, EPA will give priority consideration to these comments in its current studies toward improving the current Strategy in future revisions. The policy and implementation questions are restated followed by a general summary of comments and EPA's conclusions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Proposed Revised Noise Emission Regulation For Interstate Rail Carriers
William E. Roper
April 1979
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User Taxes and Allocations of United States Airport and Airway System Costs
Paul F. Dienemann; Armando M. Lago
January 1976
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The United States government supports a vast network of air traffic control and safety for aviation users throughout the country and across the Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. This Airport and Airway System is operated not only through the Federal Aviation Administration, but also through a number of other federal agencies. In the late 1960s the rapid growth in air traffic was straining the capacity of the Airport and Airway System and causing serious delays and airspace congestion. To help remedy this, the U.S. Congress passed the Airport and Airway Development and Revenue Act of 1970, authorising a long-range programme for expanding and improving the nation's airports and airways. The Act directed the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to undertake a cost allocation study with the following objectives: 1. To determine the costs of the federal Airport and Airways System. 2. Too determine how these costs should be allocated among the various users, i.e., air carrier, general aviation, and military aviation. 3. To recommend equitable ways for recovering these costs. In the fall of 1970 DOT launched the cost allocation study, which was undertaken by DOT personnel and supported by contract research personnel. This paper, based partly on work carried out by the authors for the Department of Transportation, summarises the results of this inquiry and describes the separable costs/remaining benefits method for allocating costs to air carrier, general aviation, and military users. The paper also provides a direct comparison of the allocated costs and user revenues from existing airport and airway charges. Large shortfalls in tax recovery are revealed, particularly in the general aviation sector, and the need for changes in the tax structure becomes apparent from the study results.
User's Guide and Documentation of the ONAC Railroad Cash Flow Model
May 1981
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The Railroad Cash Flow Model estimates the discounted present value of each firm's future cash flow stream. To determine this, the set worth of each railroad firm is subtracted from the present value of future cash flow. The model was developed by contractor in order to perform the economic analysis for the railroad regulation. The model was implicitly developed through contract funding but is not currently available for use on EPA's computer system.
Users Manual and Program Guide for the Consumer Product Noise Impact Model
R.L. Bronsdon; C.E. Waldman
October 1980
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The Consumer Product Noise Impact Model (CPNIM) was written to enable the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Noise Abatement and Control to assess the impact of noise from consumer products on the public. The original model was designed by the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in 1978 to set the basic calculation procedures. Two versions of this program have been provided. The first, and easiest to operate, is interactive in nature and is designed to be operated by a person possessing virtually no computer skills. It operates in the "Time Sharing" mode as opposed to the "Batch" mode and is, as such, more expensive to run, but the extent of the user's knowledge of the programs workings is limited to how to start the program. The second version is designed to opeerate in the "Batch" mode. To operate this version the user must be capable of using the terminal to build files for input data and submitting a batch job for execution. All steps are carefully explained in this manual but some knowledge of computing systems is helpful. Because of the "Batch" operation, this version is much less expensive to run, but the turn around time will be longer.
User's Manual for Automated Calculation of Fleet Noise Level and Airport Noise Index
William Benson
April 1981
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This manual provides instructions to the users of a series of programs that calculate fleet noise level (FNL) and airport noise index (ANI). The concept of FNL provides a method for evaluating the noise status of fleets of aircraft. Using FNL, comparisons can be developed between fleets for all airports of subsets of airports. It is an average of acoustical energies. The ANI is a measure that is sensitive to total acoustical energy.
Users Manual for the ALAMO (DEMCOM) Demographic Report Generator Program
Larry A. Ronk; Richard I. Chais
September 1981
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This report presents a discussion of the user requirements and procedures for executing the Demographic Report Generator Program. DEMCOM, a computer program written in FORTRAN IV programming language, uses as input the Aircraft Noise Levels and Annoyance Model (ALAMO) demographic profile reports which are generated for each octant of specified day-night sound level (Ldn) contour band and computes the same variables for the all-octant case. The program also projects selected demographic variables to future years based on historical growth rates for population, households, and per capita income.