On monitoring community noise using arbitrarily chosen measurement periods

An attempt to find out the effectiveness of using short time span measurements to monitor or assess the acoustical environment is summarized in the present study. Long time span noise level recording was carried out in the high-rise residential areas of Hong Kong. The short time span results were then obtained from these records by arbitrarily choosing a time period of a specific length. It is found that there is a high probability that the short time span results can be very much lower than the worst scenario of a site, but the estimations of the energy-based Day–night level and Day–evening–night level are within engineering tolerance. It is also found that taking one additional short time span measurement at a site strategically can improve significantly the assessment outcome for the day time period.