Professional Documents
Culture Documents
of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
July 2010
Table 1: Valuing acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) impacts of noise.
How to use the table to calculate monetary acute myocardial infarction (AMI) impacts:
The table shows the increased risk of AMI given a single decibel (dB) rise in noise levels and
the associated cost. The amenity cost per dB is also shown for contrast.
Step 1: ADD the monetary values given for the change in noise levels brought about by the
policy.
e.g. if noise levels were to rise from 65 to 67 dB, then the AMI cost would be £15.71 (for 65
to 66 dB) + £17.56 (for 66 to 67 dB) = £33.27.
Step 2: MULTIPLY this total by the number of households experiencing the change in noise
levels.
e.g. if noise levels were to rise for 1000 households, the monetary value of AMI would be
1000 x £33.27 = £33,270.
These figures can be used to form monetised costs in impact assessments in policy
appraisal.
Volume
Additional £ per household per dB change
(LAeq, 18hr dB(A))
risk of AMI
Low High Health value a Amenity/annoyance value b Total
0.00000% £0.00 £34.80 £34.80
55 56
Each additional dB rise in noise levels for 1000 households equates to an estimated 16 cases
of hypertension in the exposed population.
How to calculate hypertension impacts:
Step 1: MULTIPLY the number of households affected by the policy by 0.016 and the change
in noise levels.
e.g. If a policy raises noise levels from 65 to 67 dB for 1000 households, then 0.016 x (67 dB
– 65 dB) x 1000 = 0.016 x 2 dB change x 1000 households = 32 new cases of hypertension
are expected.
These figures can be used to form non‐monetised costs in impact assessments in policy
appraisal.
Change in Noise Levels
Additional risk of hypertension (%)
Low High
55 56 1.16
How to use the table to calculate sleep disturbance impacts:
The table shows the additional % households suffering sleep disturbance from a single
increase in decibel (dB) of noise levels across three different transport sources. These sleep
disturbance impacts are split across “levels” of sleep disturbance (i.e. Low, Moderate and
High) to reflect varying impacts among individuals of different sensitivity to noise.
Step 1: ADD the “% sleep‐disturbed households” figures given below for the change in noise
levels brought about by the policy.
e.g. if road noise levels were to rise from 65 to 67 dB, then the number of moderately sleep‐
disturbed individuals would be 3.21% (for 65 to 66 dB) + 3.29% (for 66 to 67 dB) = 5.83%
households will suffer moderate sleep disturbance.
Step 2: MULTIPLY this total by the number of households experiencing the change in noise
levels.
e.g. if 1000 households are being exposed to this 2 dB increase in road noise, then 1000 x
5.83% = 51 households will suffer moderate sleep disturbance as a result.
Step 3: REPEAT across the specified mode of transport for all three levels of sleep
disturbance i.e. High, Moderate and Low.
These figures can be used to form non‐monetised costs in impact assessments in policy
appraisal.
Change in
Noise Levels
(dB) Road Traffic Noise Railway Noise Aircraft Noise
% Low %
% High
Sleep‐ Moderate % High % Low % % High % Low %
Disturbe Sleep‐ Sleep‐ Sleep‐ Moderate Sleep‐ Sleep‐ Moderate Sleep‐
d Disturbed Disturbed Disturbed Sleep‐ Disturbed Disturbed Sleep‐ Disturbed
Househ Household Househol Househol Disturbed Househol Househol Disturbed Househol
Low High olds s ds ds Households ds ds Households ds
55 56 3.26 2.41 1.44 2.25 1.40 0.70 2.73 2.21 1.65
56 57 3.32 2.49 1.51 2.31 1.46 0.74 2.80 2.28 1.72
57 58 3.37 2.57 1.58 2.36 1.51 0.77 2.86 2.36 1.80
58 59 3.42 2.65 1.65 2.41 1.56 0.81 2.93 2.43 1.87
59 60 3.47 2.73 1.72 2.47 1.62 0.85 3.00 2.50 1.94
60 61 3.52 2.81 1.80 2.52 1.67 0.88 3.06 2.58 2.01
61 62 3.58 2.89 1.87 2.58 1.73 0.92 3.13 2.65 2.08
62 63 3.63 2.97 1.94 2.63 1.78 0.96 3.20 2.73 2.15
63 64 3.68 3.05 2.01 2.69 1.83 0.99 3.27 2.80 2.22
64 65 3.73 3.13 2.08 2.74 1.89 1.03 3.33 2.88 2.29
65 66 3.78 3.21 2.15 2.79 1.94 1.07 3.40 2.95 2.37
66 67 3.83 3.29 2.22 2.85 1.99 1.10 3.47 3.03 2.44
67 68 3.89 3.37 2.29 2.90 2.05 1.14 3.53 3.10 2.51
68 69 3.94 3.45 2.37 2.96 2.10 1.18 3.60 3.18 2.58
69 70 3.99 3.53 2.44 3.01 2.16 1.21 3.67 3.25 2.65
70 71 4.04 3.61 2.51 3.06 2.21 1.25 3.73 3.33 2.72
71 72 4.09 3.69 2.58 3.12 2.26 1.28 3.80 3.40 2.79
72 73 4.15 3.77 2.65 3.17 2.32 1.32 3.87 3.47 2.86
73 74 4.20 3.85 2.72 3.23 2.37 1.36 3.94 3.55 2.93
74 75 4.25 3.93 2.79 3.28 2.42 1.39 4.00 3.62 3.01
75 76 4.30 4.01 2.87 3.33 2.48 1.43 4.07 3.70 3.08
76 77 4.35 4.09 2.94 3.39 2.53 1.47 4.14 3.77 3.15
77 78 4.41 4.17 3.01 3.44 2.59 1.50 4.20 3.85 3.22
78 79 4.46 4.25 3.08 3.50 2.64 1.54 4.27 3.92 3.29
79 80 4.51 4.33 3.15 3.55 2.69 1.58 4.34 4.00 3.36
80 81 4.56 4.41 3.22 3.60 2.75 1.61 4.40 4.07 3.43