Relation between measured noise levels and traffic flow

Road-traffic flow parameters are a critical input to urban noise pollution evaluation frameworks such as CNOSSOS-EU. The accuracy and resolution of the traffic flow improves the quality of the noise exposure assessment. Highly resolved traffic flow within an urban network is difficult to reliably measure or predict. The quality and availability of such traffic information may be improved using data from low-cost noise sensors that are mounted beside representative segments of the road network. A model is presented, which relates the noise levels measured at a single noise sensor with the local traffic flow conditions. The noise data is obtained from a noise sensor mounted alongside a road, which is part of a test-bed in Stockholm, Sweden. The local traffic flow is obtained from commercial vehicle-counting sensors mounted alongside the noise sensor. Effect of seasonality is observed when comparing models trained on different subsets of the training data. The effect of seasonality on the noise levels is investigated.