Knauss D.

In the EU-Directive 2002/49/EC the noise exposure of the population is assessed by taking the noise level on the most exposed façade on the building and calculating the number of inhabitants exposed to this level. On the other hand the noise exposure of the population can also be calculated on basis of annoyance using known relations between Ldn and annoyance. In combination with the population distribution this can give a different result. Since the main goal of the assessment of noise exposure is to set up an action plan in order to reduce the noise exposure. Depending on the assessment method the action plans can be different. In this paper the two methods – façade exposure according to the EU directive and annoyance – shall be compared for an example of a medium sized city in Germany. Furthermore a comparison of different façade noise exposure method will be given.