The measurement of tire-road noise: how does standardization contribute to the development of low noise pavements in Europe

Low-noise road pavements are among the most effective solutions for reducing road traffic noise emission at the source. There was a significant international effort over the past years for developing and standardizing methods for measuring tire-road noise emission, essentially Statistical Pass-By (SPB) and Close ProXimity (CPX) methods. The dedicated Working Group of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN/TC227/WG5) recently investigated how these standards are used in practice and how they contribute to the implementation of low-noise pavements. For this, a survey was launched and 14 European countries responded on their practices. The survey showed a large diversity of use, although all refer to the measurement methods SPB, CPX. Based on these methods, some countries have developed national regulations or reference guidelines to specify and assess the acoustic performance of road surfaces. These procedures are, however, significantly different and lead to varying definitions of low-noise pavements, which prevents sharing knowledge, experience and data. This context justifies the ongoing development within CEN/TC227/WG5 of a standard procedure for the acoustic characterization of road pavements based on existing measurement methods. The paper will present and analyze the results of the survey, then will present the ongoing work in CEN.