A noise model for urban water traffic in Venice

Noise is considered among the first causes of urban degradation and the impact on human health and environment quality is huge. Many studies have demonstrated that urban noise exposure may produce a number of direct and indirect effects other than hearing damage. These include interference on communication and sleep disturbance effects. In Venice, urban water traffic represents a consistent source of noise. All transport in Venice are water based, in particular on the canals that allow the passage of large motor boats and offer the most direct link between different parts of the city. The intensity of the traffic increases the acoustic discomfort of residents. The situation is worsened due to the small width of the canals and the close proximity of buildings that overlook them. The Historic Centre is a very complex environment and many of the noise sources present on site have similar acoustic characteristics (vessels, water buses, private boats, hydrofoils and cruise ships). For these reasons it is really difficult to isolate the acoustic contributions of individual noise sources. The acoustic model produced with this research allows the identification of the contributions of different types of vessels to the overall ambient noise level and the formulation of different noise control strategies.