(Acoustical Society of America, 2010) Arana Burgui, Miguel; Física; Fisika
The majority of acoustic impact studies developed over the last 50 years have used a similar
acoustic parameter Leq, Ldn but the noise mapping methodology has been very uneven. The
selection of the measurement points, the measurement periods, or the evaluation indices have not
followed a unique criterion. Therefore, it is not possible to compare the sound pollution levels
between different cities from those studies, at least in a rigorous sense. Even more, different studies
carried out in the same city by different researchers during different years and using different
methodologies are not conclusive whether the acoustic pollution increases or decreases. The present
paper shows results, with statistical significance, about the evolution of the acoustic pollution
obtained for two Spanish cities, Pamplona and Madrid. In both cases, it can be concluded that noise
pollution decreases over time (P<0.01).