The Nord2000 prediction method for road traffic noise–outline and validation, and application in environmental noise mapping

In 2006, the Nord2000 method for predicting traffic noise exposure of road neighbors was published. Subsequently, in 2007, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency made it the official method to be applied in cases involving decision making by environmental authorities. Since then, the method has been amended and computation software has been thoroughly debugged. Scientists have applied traffic noise levels calculated by means of Nord2000 when investigating health and annoyance effects of traffic noise. In 2019, a series of long-term field measurements was carried out as a supplement to the validation efforts made when developing the method, partly as an effort to build public confidence in calculated levels of traffic noise exposure. These measurements were made to investigate the relation between the varying noise levels as measured over time and the predicted yearly average noise levels L_den. Such knowledge can support and nuance explanations of how people are–or will be–affected by noise levels predicted as L_den. The present article outlines basic features of Nord2000 with an emphasis on the validation of the method and, particularly, on the outcome of the recent long-term measurement series.