Cite this article Research Article Keywords: environment/noise/

Mansourkhaki A, Haghiri M and Berangi M Paper 1700117 roads & highways

A modified noise-prediction model for highways with significant motorcycle traffic. Received 02/09/2017;
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Transport, Accepted 24/08/2018
https://doi.org/10.1680/jtran.17.00117
ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Transport

A modified noise-prediction model for

highways with significant motorcycle traffic
Ali Mansourkhaki PhD Mohamadjavad Berangi MSc
Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Faculty, Iran University of Science and Research Assistant, Civil Engineering Faculty, Iran University of Science and
Technology, Tehran, Iran Technology, Tehran, Iran
Majid Haghiri MSc
Research Assistant, Civil Engineering Faculty, Iran University of Science and
Technology, Tehran, Iran (corresponding author: majid.haghiri@gmail.com)
(Orcid:0000-0001-8103-8139)

One of the undesirable outcomes of the rapid travel of a large number of vehicles on highways is the high level of
noise pollution. Tehran is the most noise-polluted city in Iran, where the contribution of motorcycles to noise
pollution is significant. In this paper, the equivalent sound pressure levels (LAeq,1h) were measured alongside seven
highways in Tehran and were compared with the environmental guidelines. The traffic-noise-prediction model for
highways proposed by the government (IR-TNM) was also evaluated based on the collected data from field
measurements. The findings reveal that traffic noise levels at measured points exceeded the maximum noise level
allowed by Iran’s Department of the Environment. Also, there was a significant difference between the results of the
prediction model and measured values at the measured points. As highway access for motorcycles in Tehran is not
prohibited and their impact on highway noise is not considered in the IR-TNM prediction model, a modification of the
model, considering the motorcycle traffic and re-estimating the coefficients, was performed using the Gauss–Newton
method, which led to a better fit to the observed data both for the calibration and validation data sets.

Notation the main sources of noise pollution in cities and has become a
A, B regression constants major concern for city managers.
LAeq A-weighted, equivalent continuous sound level
L(Aeq,i) observed equivalent noise level for the ith sample To measure noise level, an A-weighting filter is applied to
L̂Aeq;i predicted equivalent noise level for the ith sample account for the relative loudness perceived by the human ear.
Lbasic basic noise level at a reference distance of 10 m The A-weighted noise level expressed in dB(A) is a common
away from the source line scale for measuring noise level in the transportation arena
Lgr correction for road gradients more than 3% (Alam et al., 2006). As the traffic noise from highways fluctu-
LP,V correction for percentage of heavy vehicles and ates greatly over time, the equivalent continuous sound level
average speed of traffic (Leq) comes into use (Jobair Bin Alam et al., 2001).
Lt correction for road surface
Nbus number of buses The importance of noise pollution in cities and its impact on
Nmotorcycle number of motorcycles the environment has been the main motivation for several
Ntruck number of trucks investigations in different countries (Bastián-Monarca et al.,
P percentage of heavy vehicles 2016; Dintrans and Préndez, 2013; İlgürel et al., 2016;
Pnoisy percentage of noisy vehicles Govindaraj and Pachiappan, 2013; Suthanaya, 2015). In Iran,
Qt total number of vehicles per hour studies on road traffic noise can be classified into two
R Pearson correlation coefficient categories: first, studies on measuring traffic noise levels and
r distance from reception point to the centreline comparing them with the environmental standards and provid-
r0 reference distance (10 m) ing noise maps (Mehravaran et al., 2011; Mehrjo et al., 2013;
V average speed Nejadkoorki et al., 2010; Shaho et al., 2015) and second,
α significance level studies on developing traffic-noise-prediction models, which
will be focused upon here.

1. Introduction Monazzam Esmaeelpour et al. (2014) proposed a prediction

Noise pollution is the unwanted and disturbing sound that
threatens the health of humans and other living things and
results in several psychosomatic disorders, especially hearing
complications. Traffic noise pollution originates from four
sources: roads, airports, railroads and ports. The noise pol-
lution from road vehicles, which is investigated here, is one of
model consisting of nine inputs, which included traffic volume
and speed of vehicles, environmental factors and the geometric
parameters of the roads. They conducted a total of 1344
measurements in the city of Ahwaz, Iran. The predicted values
of their model showed high correlation with measured data
and the model was suggested for prediction of half-hour

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 Transport
equivalent traffic noise level for the city of Ahwaz.
Golmohammadi et al. (2009) conducted a study in the city of
Hamadan, Iran, aiming to set up a noise-prediction model for
the traffic condition of Iranian cities. A model was developed
with seven explanatory variables which affect traffic noise,
including volume and mean speed of vehicles and geometric
parameters such as road length, road width, the gradient of
the road and height of the buildings around the road. The
average of values predicted by this model showed a small
difference (−0·42 dB) from the average of measured values.
The calibration of the noise-prediction model used in the UK
– CoRTN (calculation of road traffic noise) (DOT, 1988) – for
roads in Tehran was conducted in another study. For this
purpose, 52 samples were taken from five streets in Tehran
according to the CoRTN procedure. Two different approaches
were implemented to split the data for calibration and per-
formance steps and both approaches yielded satisfactory
results (Givargis and Mahmoodi, 2008). Also, some investi-
gators implemented machine learning algorithms such as
neural networks and genetic algorithms for the prediction of
road traffic noise in the cities of Tehran and Mashhad in Iran.
The results showed a greater accuracy of these approaches in
comparison to classical regression models (Givargis and
Karimi, 2010; Rahmani et al., 2011).
Motorcycles can be as noisy as heavy vehicles and make
a significant contribution to the level of noise. Traffic jams
occur most of the time in Tehran – the most traffic-congested
city in Iran – and this has made the motorcycle a favourite
vehicle for a large number of citizens; highway access of
motorcycles in Tehran has made the noise pollution of high-
ways even more critical. So far, motorcycles have been
implemented only rarely in the noise-prediction models devel-
oped; this has been the main motivation for conducting this
study.
Figure 1. Selected points for data collection
2
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A modified noise-prediction model
for highways with significant
motorcycle traffic
Mansourkhaki, Haghiri and Berangi
In this paper, after analysing the noise levels near some high-
ways in Tehran in comparison with the maximum permissible
noise levels, the measured values are compared with the pre-
dicted ones resulting from a traffic-noise-prediction model pro-
vided by the Iranian government, which is here abbreviated as
‘IR-TNM’. Then modification of this model is carried out
based on the collected data.
2. Data collection
In the present study, having assessed some of Tehran’s high-
ways, a few locations that satisfied the required conditions for
measurements were selected. One of the required conditions
was the availability of a proper position for placement of a
sound level meter in terms of distance and height; the other
condition was proximity to a pedestrian bridge for placing a
camera and recording videos of traffic flow. Finally, 24
samples from seven highways – namely, Hemmat, Kharazi,
Bakeri, Hakim, Sattari, Ashrafi Esfahani and Abshenasan –
were collected. These points are shown in Figure 1. The
measurements were conducted in commercial–residential areas
from 7.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. on working days in June 2017.
The road gradient was calculated by dividing the elevation
difference of two points along each road section – measured
using a Leica NAK2, which is an automatic level instrument –
by the distance between them.
2.1 Noise measurements
The noise measurements were carried out in L(Aeq,1h) using a
Brüel & Kjær (B&K) 2240 (ANSI Type 1) sound level meter
calibrated with a B&K 4231 sound calibrator before each
assessment. The distance from the sound level meter to the
nearside carriageway edge was less than 4 m and the height of
the device above the road surface was 1·2 m. Also, the device
was placed at least 3·5 m away from any reflecting facade to
minimise the influence of reflections (ISO 1996-2 (ISO, 2007)).
 Transport
The measurements were performed in dry weather conditions
with a temperature between 25 and 30°C and a wind speed
below 5 m/s. At all measurement sites, the ground type was
hard and the sight angle was between 150 and 180°.
2.2 Traffic flow rate and average speed
Traffic data were extracted from the videos taken from the
nearest pedestrian bridge to the position of the sound level
meter. In order to increase the accuracy of measurements and
evaluation of the model under investigation, the recording of
the noise levels and capturing of videos were conducted simul-
taneously. After counting heavy and light vehicles in the
videos, the traffic flow rates for each class of vehicles were
computed for 1 h. Trucks, buses and minibuses were included
in the heavy vehicles category and other types of vehicles were
considered as light vehicles. The number of motorcycles in the
traffic flow was counted at the same time.
The average speeds of vehicles were also determined by consid-
ering a certain distance on the road and measuring the
vehicles’ traverse time. This procedure was performed using a
semi-automated tool, called ‘Traffic Data Extractor’, which
was developed by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
to extract the details of vehicle movements with desirable accu-
racy (0·1 s) (Munigety et al., 2014). According to Figure 2, as
soon as a vehicle reaches the entry line – based on the type of
vehicle – the corresponding key on the keyboard is pressed and
the same key is pressed again as it reaches the exit line. The
program calculates the speed of each vehicle by dividing the
distance between the entry line and exit line by the time inter-
val between the two key presses.
3. Data analysis
Descriptive statistics of the collected data are given in Table 1.
As highway access is not prohibited for motorcycles in
Entry line
Exit line
Figure 2. Measuring the average speed of vehicles in ‘Traffic Data Extractor’ program
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A modified noise-prediction model
for highways with significant
motorcycle traffic
Mansourkhaki, Haghiri and Berangi
Tehran, the investigation of the traffic composition of Tehran
highways demonstrated a significant percentage of motorcycles
in measurement sites, which in most cases was not below
the percentage of heavy vehicles (as shown in Figure 3).
The mean percentage of motorcycle traffic in the traffic
composition at measurement sites was nearly twice (1·925)
the percentage of heavy vehicles according to Table 1
(mean = 3·39, standard deviation, SD = 2·081). Therefore,
without considering the motorcycle in the noise prediction
models, the reliability and precision of the prediction results
will decrease.
The maximum permissible hourly noise level in urban areas
proposed by Department of Environment of Iran is presented
in Table 2. The measured values were compared with the
permissible levels in commercial–residential areas. According
to the manual, the commercial–residential area comprises
‘areas in which progressive growth of work and business activi-
ties has emerged in a residential complex and a mixed situ-
ation of residency and occupational activities has been formed’
and the measurements should be done at the side of the noise
source nearest to the receiver in a free-field condition (IDOE,
2008: p. 1).
Measured noise levels near Tehran highways in comparison
with the permissible level for commercial–residential areas are
presented in Figure 4. The maximum equivalent noise level
was recorded at the Kharazi highway, with 78·84 dB(A), and
the least at the Ashrafi Esfahani highway, with 72·67 dB(A).
At 15 of the total 24 points, the measured noise levels were
more than 75 dB(A) and the average noise level of all points
was 25·9% (15·52 dB(A)) more than the permissible level for
commercial–residential areas. Thus, to mitigate the negative
impacts of this situation, noise-abatement programmes should
be considered seriously.
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 Transport A modified noise-prediction model
for highways with significant
motorcycle traffic
Mansourkhaki, Haghiri and Berangi

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of collected data

Variable Data range Mean SD

Flow rate: vehicles/h 3600–19 097 9598 4413·328

Average speed: km/h 46·9–94·9 73·51 12·375
Percentage of motorcycles: % 0·29–8·27 3·39 2·081
Percentage of heavy vehicles: % 0·29–3·96 1·76 0·967
Road gradient: % 0·3–5·6 2·91 1·762
Leq: dB(A) 69·8–78·9 75·37 2·056

9
Percentage in traffic composition: %

8 Motorcycles
Heavy vehicles
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Measurement points

Figure 3. Comparison of the percentages of motorcycles and heavy vehicles in traffic composition

Table 2. Maximum permissible noise level for different urban reference distance of 10 m away from the source line (Lbasic in
areas (IDOE, 2008) Equation 1) and a correction for the percentage of heavy
Leq,1hour: dB(A) vehicles and average speed of traffic (Lp,v in Equation 2), a cor-
rection for road gradients more than 3% (Lgr in Equation 3)
7.00 a.m. 10.00 p.m. and a correction for the road surface (Lt in Equation 4)
until until
District type 10.00 p.m. 7.00 a.m.
1: Lbasic ¼ 383 þ 10 log ðQt Þ dBðAÞ
Residential 55 45
Mixed (commercial–residential) 60 50
Commercial–administrative 65 55

500
Residential–industrial 70 60 LP;V ¼33log V þ 40 þ
Industrial 75 65 V
2:

P
þ 10log 1 þ 5  688 dBðAÞ
V

4. Traffic noise model for highways

in Iran (IR-TNM) 3: Lgr ¼ 03gr gr . 3% dBðAÞ
A road-traffic-noise-prediction model for highways – abbre-
viated as IR-TNM in this paper – has been proposed by the
Management and Planning Organization of Iran, in issue no.
342 (MPOI, 2006), which is a simplified version of the 4: Lt ¼ 4  003p dBðAÞ
CoRTN. The IR-TNM model differs from CoRTN in terms of
the basic noise level and the correction for the road surface. where Qt is the number of all heavy and light vehicles including
Also, the corrections for the ground cover and site layout motorcycles per hour; V is the average speed (km/h); P is
(including the effects of intervening buildings, the angle of the percentage of heavy vehicles; and gr is the percentage of
view and side roads) have been removed from the CoRTN the road gradient. Equation 1 gives the basic noise level for the
model for the purpose of simplification. The IR-TNM model given traffic flows (Q) at a mean speed of 75 km/h, with zero
comprises a formula for computing the basic noise level at a percentage of heavy vehicles and zero gradient.

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 Transport A modified noise-prediction model
for highways with significant
motorcycle traffic
Mansourkhaki, Haghiri and Berangi

85
Permissible noise level in commercial–residential districts
80 Measured noise levels exceeding the permissible limit

75
LAeq: dB(A)

70

65

60

55

50
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Points

Figure 4. Comparison of measured noise level with the maximum permissible noise level in commercial-residential areas

The centrelines of the highways are considered as the source Table 3. Results of the paired t-test for the IR-TNM
line of the sound. Since all the measurement sites are highways
Observed IR-TNM
with more than three lanes on each side, the distance from the
source line to the receiver is more than 10 m. Thus, the dis- Mean 75·52 77·95
Variance 3·053 3·467
tance correction parameter (NR, i.e. correction for distances
Observations 16 16
greater than 10 m from the source line) is applied according to Pearson correlation 0·252
Equation 5 to match up the distances associated with the Hypothesised mean difference 0
measurements and predictions Degree of freedom 15
Level of significance 0·05

 t-statistic −4·40
r
5: NR ¼ 10log ðr . r0 Þ Probability two-tail 0·000515707
r0 t-critical two-tail ±2·13

where r is the distance from the reception point to the centre-

line and r0 is the reference distance (10 m).
Since the road surface at all measurement points was smooth
asphalt, the correction for the road surface (Lt) was ignored.
Thus the final formula for calculating equivalent continuous
noise level (Leq) is as follows
6: Leq ¼ Lbasic þ LP;V þ Lgr þ NR
where Lbasic, LP,V, Lgr and NR are as defined above.
5. Goodness-of-fit of the IR-TNM
The data set was randomly divided into two subsets, 16 samples
for evaluation and modification of the IR-TNM and eight
samples for validation of the proposed models. In the first step,
the goodness-of-fit of the IR-TNM was evaluated using the
paired t-test technique – ‘an appropriate test for judging the sig-
nificant difference between the means of two samples when the
sample size is small’ (Kumar et al., 2014: p. 120).
As presented in Table 3, the t-statistic value of −4·40 was
achieved, which is lower than the t-critical value of −2·13
required for 5% significance; this implies a significant differ-
ence between the observed and predicted values.
The comparison of the measured noise levels with the pre-
dicted ones is also shown in Figure 5. This figure allows for a
visual understanding of how well the predicted values fit the
measured ones. It can be seen in Figure 5 that the IR-TNM
overestimates the noise levels at most of the measurement
points. This could be due to the improvement of vehicles in
terms of reducing noise emissions during the last decade.
Because of the high import tariffs on cars in Iran, most people
use cars produced by companies inside Iran. In the last
decade, for the first time, guidelines for vehicle noise emissions
have been introduced and regulated. Also, the production
of some noisy and old-brand vehicles was discontinued
recently. Thus, modifying the basic noise level (Lbasic) could be
a good starting point to improve the prediction accuracy of
the model.
6. Modification of the IR-TNM
The modification of the IR-TNM was conducted using two
different approaches in order to increase its prediction accu-
racy. In the first approach, Equation 7 was selected for par-
ameter estimation and by taking the field measurement data
into consideration, the parameters A and B were estimated
using non-linear regression. The modification of the correc-
tions for traffic speed and road gradient is not covered in this

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 Transport A modified noise-prediction model
for highways with significant
motorcycle traffic
Mansourkhaki, Haghiri and Berangi

82 In the second approach, the variable P corresponding to the

percentage of heavy vehicles is replaced by a new parameter
termed the ‘percentage of noisy vehicles’, which adds the per-
80 centage of motorcycles in the traffic composition to the per-
centage of heavy vehicles. The percentage of noisy vehicles
Predicted LAeq: dB(A)

(Pnoisy ) is calculated using the following equation

78
Nmotorcycle þ Ntruck þ Nbus
8: Pnoisy ¼  100
Qt
76
where Nmotorcycle, Ntruck and Nbus are the numbers of motor-
cycles, trucks and buses in the traffic composition, respectively,
74
and Qt is the total volume.

Then the parameters A and B are estimated in the same way as

72
72 74 76 78 80 82 the first approach. Specifications of the applied Gauss–
Observed LAeq: dB(A) Newton method for both approaches are given in Table 4.

Figure 5. Comparisons of the predicted and measured noise The default values of the IR-TNM were utilised as the starting
levels in the IR-TNM values for the parameters A and B without applying any con-
straints. The best values for these parameters were found after
eight iterations in both approaches. The results of the par-
ameter estimation indicate the significance ( p-value < 0·05) of
Table 4. Specifications of the applied Gauss–Newton method in
both approaches all parameters for both approaches, as shown in Table 5.

Parameter Values According to Table 5, the modified models are derived as

Confidence level 95% Equations 9 and 10; these pertain to approach I and approach
Maximum number of iterations 200 II, respectively, as follows
Convergence tolerance 0·00001


500
Leq ¼357 þ 10logðQt Þ þ 33log V þ 40 þ
V
9:

article. The Gauss–Newton algorithm was utilised in the non- P
þ 10log 1 þ 83  688 þ Lgr þ NR
linear regression to estimate the parameters. ‘This method uses V
a linear approximation to an expectation function to iteratively
improve an initial guess and then keeps improving the esti-
mates until the relative offset falls below a prescribed tolerance’

500
(Minitab, 2017). Leq ¼36 þ 10logðQt Þ þ 33log V þ 40 þ
V

 10:

500 Pnoisy
Leq ¼A þ 10 logðQt Þ þ 33log V þ 40 þ þ 10log 1 þ 18  688 þ Lgr þ NR
V V
7:

P
þ 10log 1 þ B  688 þ Lgr þ NR
V where Pnoisy is the percentage of noisy vehicles and the par-
ameters Qt, V , P, Lgr and NR are the same as defined in

Table 5. Results of the Gauss–Newton parameter estimation

Asymptotic 95% confidence
interval

Approach Parameter Estimate Standard error Lower bound Upper bound T-value P-value

I A 35·7 1·1742 32·9467 37·7860 30·44 0·0000

B 8·3 3·7349 0·1908 16·466 2·23 0·0414
II A 36 0·86391 33·8558 37·5678 41·70 0·0000
B 1·8 0·5981 0·4734 3·0796 2·97 0·0096

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 Transport A modified noise-prediction model
for highways with significant
motorcycle traffic
Mansourkhaki, Haghiri and Berangi

Equation 6. According to Equations 9 and 10 and in
comparison to the IR-TNM, the lower constant term (the
parameter A) indicates an overall lower road traffic noise due
to quieter vehicles as explained in Section 5. The higher B
parameter in Equation 9 implies a larger difference in terms of
noise emissions between heavy and light vehicles and a greater
dependency of the noise level on the number of heavy vehicles.
However, the higher percentage of motorcycles in the traffic
composition in comparison to heavy vehicles increases the
Pnoisy variable dramatically, leading to a lower B parameter in
Equation 10. The equation obtained in approach II will give
the same result whether the percentage of noisy vehicles is all
motorcycles or all heavy goods vehicles. Thus further work is
suggested to collect enough data for motorcycles to have their
own term to resolve this problem.
its better fit to the observed data. Thus, considering the per-
centage of motorcycles together with heavy vehicles in the
formula led to a better fitting to the calibration data.
The visual comparison between the predicted noise levels and
the observed ones in approaches I and II are presented in
Figures 6 and 7, respectively. The predicted values are grouped
around the 45° line in both approaches, in comparison with
82
80
Predicted LAeq: dB(A)

The statistical paired t-test was applied to assess the goodness-

of-fit of both approaches. Table 6 presents the results of the 78
paired t-test at the 5% significance level (α = 0·05). Since the
t-statistic values for both approaches are within the range of
76
±t-critical value, the null hypothesis – no significant difference
between the predicted and observed values – is accepted.

74
Furthermore, the sum of squared errors of prediction (SSE)
and the Pearson correlation coefficient (R) for the IR-TNM
and approaches I and II are presented in Table 7. The SSE is
72
calculated using Equation 11 72 74 76 78 80 82
Observed LAeq: dB(A)
X
n  
11: SSE ¼ LAeq;i  L̂Aeq;i
i¼1 Figure 6. Comparisons of the predicted and measured noise
levels in approach I in the calibration step

where LAeq;i and L̂Aeq;i are the observed and predicted equival-
ent noise levels, respectively, for the ith sample.
82
According to Table 7, the highest correlation coefficient and
the lowest SSE were achieved by approach II, which indicates
80

Table 6. Results of the paired t-test for approaches I and II

Predicted LAeq: dB(A)

Model t-statistic t-critical two-tail 78

Approach I 1·218 ±2·131
Approach II −0·756 ±2·131
76

Table 7. Comparison of IR-TNM with approaches I and II in the 74

calibration step
Correlation with
Model observed values (R) SSE 72
72 74 76 78 80 82
IR-TNM 0·252 (P-value = 0·347) 167·761 Observed LAeq: dB(A)
Approach I (modified IR-TNM 0·629 (P-value = 0·009) 44·435
without motorcycles)
Figure 7. Comparisons of the predicted and measured noise
Approach II (modified IR-TNM 0·785 (P-value = 0·000) 25·798
levels in approach II in the calibration step
with motorcycles)

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 Transport A modified noise-prediction model
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motorcycle traffic
Mansourkhaki, Haghiri and Berangi

Table 8. Measured and predicted equivalent noise levels at the
validation points
Point no. Observed IR-TNM
1 76·3 83·0
2 75·5 77·9
3 78·5 78·1
4 76·9 79·6
5 74·7 77·9
6 72·7 75·3
7 73·7 74·7
8 76·0 79·2
Mean 75·504 78·21
SD 1·831 2·564
the non-modified model, which indicates a better fit to the
observed data.
7. Validation of the models
In order to obtain an estimation of the predictive ability of the
proposed models when presented with new data, their perform-
ances were evaluated using the validation data set. The
measured and predicted equivalent noise levels using the pro-
posed models and the results of the paired t-test for the IR-
TNM and approaches I and II in the validation step at the 5%
significance level are presented in Table 8. The t-statistic value
for the IR-TNM model (−3·173) is below the t-critical value
(±2·365), which indicates a significant difference between the
predicted and observed results. Since the t-statistic value for
both approaches I and II are within the range of ±t-critical
value, the null hypothesis – no significant difference between
the two samples – is accepted.
The absolute errors of prediction of the models in the vali-
dation points are compared in Figure 8. The prediction errors
of both approaches were lower than those of the non-modified
model (IR-TNM) according to Figure 8. Except for one point,
Approach I Approach II the prediction errors of approach II at all validation points
were lower than 1·5 dB(A), which indicates the superiority of
80·9 80·3
this approach.
75·1 75·6
76·7 77·4
77·6 77·4 Also, the SSE and Pearson correlation coefficient (R) for
75·4 75·9 the models in predicting validation data are presented in
73·1 74·0 Table 9. According to Table 9, the best prediction performance
72·5 73·5
was achieved by approach II based on the criteria SSE and R.
77·9 77·0
76·225 76·362
2·72 2·231 8. Conclusion
In the first part of this study, the level of noise near some high-
ways of Tehran was investigated. In total, 24 points on seven
highways were selected for field measurements. The results
revealed significant deviation from the environmental per-
mitted noise levels and the application of noise-abatement pro-
grammes was recommended.
In the second part, the accuracy of the IR-TNM prediction
model was evaluated by comparing the predicted values with
the measured ones. Lack of accuracy and overestimation of
noise levels revealed the necessity for model modification.
Thus the model was modified by replacing the percentage of
heavy vehicles with the percentage of noisy vehicles, a category
which includes motorcycles and heavy vehicles together, and
the coefficients of the model were estimated using the non-
linear Gauss–Newton method. This modification resulted in
better fitting to the observed data both for the calibration and
validation data sets, leading to a higher correlation coefficient
and a much lower SSE. Thus, considering the percentage of
motorcycles in the composition of traffic when developing
road-traffic-noise-prediction models can improve their predic-
tion power, especially in cities with high levels of motorcycle

4
IR-TNM Approach I Approach II
3·24

3·22
2·74

2·70

3
2·66
Prediction error: dB(A)

2·45
2·41

2·36

2·06
2·05
1·69

2
1·59
1·47
1·32

1·28

1·15

1·14

0·99
0·99

0·94
0·79
0·76

0·76

1
0·47

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Sample number

Figure 8. Comparison of prediction errors of the proposed models in the validation points

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 Transport
Table 9. Comparison of IR-TNM with approaches I and II
in the validation step
Model R SSE
IR-TNM 0·616 (P-value = 0·104) 36·678
Approach I (modified IR-TNM 0·639 (P-value = 0·088) 12·616
without motorcycles)
Approach II (modified IR-TNM 0·724 (P-value = 0·042) 6·313
with motorcycles)
traffic such as Tehran. Further measurements to verify the
results of this study are suggested.
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