Effects of Railway Elevation, Operation of a New Station, and Earthquakes on Railway Noise Annoyance in Kumamoto, Japan

Murakami, Yasuhiro; Yano, Takashi; Morinaga, Makoto; Yokoshima, Shigenori

doi:10.3390/ijerph15071417

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Railway Elevation, Operation of a New Station, and Earthquakes on Railway Noise Annoyance in Kumamoto, Japan

by

Yasuhiro Murakami

¹,

Takashi Yano

^2,*,

Makoto Morinaga

³ and

Shigenori Yokoshima

⁴

¹

Department of Architecture, Sojo University, Ikeda 4-22-1, Nishi-ku, Kumamoto 860-0082, Japan

²

Kumamoto University, Kurokami 2-39-1, Chuo-ku, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan

³

Defense Facilities Environment Improvement Association, Shiba 3-41-8, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0014, Japan

⁴

Kanagawa Environmental Research Center, Shinomiya 1-3-39, Hiratsuka 254-0014, Japan

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(7), 1417; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071417

Submission received: 16 May 2018 / Revised: 3 July 2018 / Accepted: 3 July 2018 / Published: 5 July 2018

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Noise-Related Annoyance)

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Abstract

This study investigated the effects of railway elevation, operation of a new station, and earthquakes on railway noise annoyance in two areas along a conventional railway line (CRL) adjacent to the Kyushu Shinkansen line: the north area with the CRL elevation and the south area with the operation of the new station, both of which occurred in March 2016. In April 2016, Kumamoto region was struck by a series of large earthquakes, prompting their inclusion in this study, as frequent aftershocks with loud ground rumbling might make people more sensitive to railway noise and vibration. Socioacoustic surveys were performed in both areas before and after the earthquakes. Because very few respondents in the north area reported that they were “highly annoyed,” further analysis was conducted on data from the south area. The exposure–annoyance relationship was found to be significantly higher in 2017 than in 2011 despite lower noise exposure. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that L_den, noise sensitivity, and serious damage by the earthquakes in addition to the operation of the new station significantly affected the annoyance in both detached and apartment houses. However, when the earthquakes caused minimal damage, they did not significantly affect annoyance.

Keywords: annoyance; railway noise; railway elevation; new station; Kumamoto earthquake; logistic regression analysis

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MDPI and ACS Style

Murakami, Y.; Yano, T.; Morinaga, M.; Yokoshima, S. Effects of Railway Elevation, Operation of a New Station, and Earthquakes on Railway Noise Annoyance in Kumamoto, Japan. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 1417. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071417

AMA Style

Murakami Y, Yano T, Morinaga M, Yokoshima S. Effects of Railway Elevation, Operation of a New Station, and Earthquakes on Railway Noise Annoyance in Kumamoto, Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2018; 15(7):1417. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071417

Chicago/Turabian Style

Murakami, Yasuhiro, Takashi Yano, Makoto Morinaga, and Shigenori Yokoshima. 2018. "Effects of Railway Elevation, Operation of a New Station, and Earthquakes on Railway Noise Annoyance in Kumamoto, Japan" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15, no. 7: 1417. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071417

APA Style

Murakami, Y., Yano, T., Morinaga, M., & Yokoshima, S. (2018). Effects of Railway Elevation, Operation of a New Station, and Earthquakes on Railway Noise Annoyance in Kumamoto, Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(7), 1417. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071417

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Effects of Railway Elevation, Operation of a New Station, and Earthquakes on Railway Noise Annoyance in Kumamoto, Japan

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