3.2 Sounds heard

Refer to Table 14

The sounds heard by the greatest proportion of people were those of ‘Road traffic’ -69%, ‘Children playing’ - 59%, ‘Rail traffic’ - 42% and ‘Domestic animals’ - 35%. ‘Delivery vans and Milk delivery’ were also important - 28% and 29%.

3.3 Sounds which trouble

Refer to Table 14

This analysis show’s a somewhat different order; ‘Children playing’ are the source of trouble to the greatest proportion - 18% followed by ‘Road traffic’ - 14% ‘Domestic animals’ - 13%.

3.4 Sounds which ‘disturb’ peoples’ sleep

Refer to Table 14

The most important sounds which disturbed peoples’ sleep were those of ‘road traffic’ - 13% and ‘domestic animals’ - 12%. It will be noticed that in the case of all sounds except that of children playing that the proportion ‘troubled’ and ‘disturbed’ are almost identical suggesting most of the ‘trouble’ is in fact ‘disturbed sleep’ in the case of sounds from outside.

3.5 Sounds Which ‘trouble’ and ‘disturb’

The ‘nuisance value’ of these sounds may be shown if the number of people who are ‘troubled’ and ‘disturbed’ are expressed as a proportion of these who ‘hear’ each sound.

3.5 A comparison of the sounds heard in houses built before and after the last war

There are one or two differences in these groups, but they seem to be related to the site of the houses rather than their construction and to the social characteristics of their inhabitants. Thus the sound which is heard by a significantly greater proportion of those living in post-war houses is that of the ‘Lawn mower’. This is heard by 14% - post war, compared with 5% - pre-war.

3.6 A comparison of the sounds heard by people living on bus routes, tram routes, near railways and not living near any of these

Refer to Table 15

In the case of the relevant sounds there were considerable differences between the groups living in different situations; thus of those who live near a. railway 79% complained of the sound of the railway compared with 28% who were not near it and the sound of road traffic was heard by more of those who lived on bus routes and tram routes, (Near a railway was taken to be within 100 yards).

3.7 A comparison of the sounds which trouble people living on bus routes, tram routes, near railways and not living near any of these

Refer to Table 15

Of those who live near railways more than twice as many were troubled by the sound of rail traffic than in any other group and in the same way those who live near bus routes and tram routes had a higher proportion troubled by road traffic.

3.8 A comparison of the sounds which disturb the sleep of people living on bus routes, tram routes, near railways and not living near any of these

Refer to Table 15

Rail traffic disturbed the sleep of 16% of those who lived close to railways - nearly three times as many as of those in any other group. The sound of road traffic disturbed the sleep of almost twice as many of those who lived on bus routes and tram routes as of those who lived away from these routes.

3.9 The effect of living within 100 yards of a railway

If all those who are troubled and are disturbed by the sound of trains are divided into those who live within 100 yards of a railway and those who live further away it is found that of those who hear, 72% of those who are troubled and 70% of those whose sleep is disturbed live near a railway.

Note. Near Railway was within 100 yards.

3.9 A comparison of the sounds heard by people living on main roads, by-roads and in cul-de-sacs

There were not important differences between these groups except with those who heard the sound of road traffic - 87% of those living on main roads, 66% of those living on by-roads, but only 36% of those living in a cul-de-sac.

3.10 A comparison of the sounds which trouble people living on main roads, by-roads and in cul-de-sacs

The cul-de-sac appeared to be superior in relation to almost every sound, except that of rail traffic and in relation to road traffic the proportions who were troubled by sound showed a considerable difference; they were main road 26%, by-road 11% and cul-de-sac 4%.

3.11 A comparison of the sounds which disturb people’s sleep living on main roads by-roads and in cul-de-sacs.

The same picture is generally true for the sounds which disturb the sleep. Of those living on main roads 27% complained that road traffic sounds disturb their sleep, of those living on by-roads, 9%, but only 4% of those living in cul-de-sac.

3.12 A comparison of people living near factories and gas works and of others who hear sounds

Refer to Table 16

This analysis shows that a higher proportion of people living near factories or gas works hear sounds of road traffic and railway traffic and other sounds - these include the sounds of machinery, whistles and other industrial sounds.

3.13 A comparison of people living near factories and gas works and of others who are troubled by sounds

Refer to Table 16

As in the previous analysis it is found that about twice as many people are troubled by the sounds of rail traffic, road traffic and other sounds amongst those living near factories or gas works.

3.14 A comparison of people living near factories and gas works and of others whose sleep is disturbed by sounds

Refer to Table 16

19% of those living near factories or gas works were disturbed by the sounds of road traffic compared with 11% of the rest, 13% of the former were disturbed by rail traffic and 5% of the rest and the proportions disturbed by other sounds were 11% and 5% respectively.

3.15 A comparison of the proportions of people living in different types of dwelling who hear, are troubled by and whose sleep is disturbed by sounds

A comparison of the different types of dwelling show significant differences in the case of certain sounds, but these appear to be the result of the location of different types of dwelling rather than the insulating quality of their structure; thus a larger proportion of people living in flats hear children playing which is no doubt accounted for by the fact that many of the flats visited had central courtyards used by children as playgrounds. In contrast people living in semi-detached houses heard more sounds of Domestic animals and Poultry, presumably because these people had gardens and the flat dwellers had not.

The proportion of people living in terraced houses who were troubled by the sounds was much higher than of those living in semi-detached houses or flats - 20% compared with 13% and 9%. This is no doubt due to the fact that very many terraced houses faced on to the street without the intervening front garden and that many flats are built away from the street altogether. The same is true in relation to the disturbance of sleep. The proportion of people living in terraced houses whose sleep is disturbed by the sound of road traffic is 18% compared with 10% of those living in semi-detached houses and 7% of those living in flats.

A comparison of the results for people living in houses and people living in flats shows a much larger proportion of people hearing Children playing’ in flats - 69% compared with 53% in houses; whereas a larger proportion of dwellers in houses hear sounds of 'Domestic animals’ - 38% compared with 29% and of ‘ Poultry’ - 17% compared with 2%.

‘Children playing’ are the most important source of trouble to flat dwellers and were mentioned by followed by ‘Road traffic’ and ‘Domestic animals’ 10% each. In the case of house dwellers ‘Children playing’ was also the most important source of trouble - 20% followed by ‘Road traffic’ and ‘Domestic animals’ 15%.

The sounds referred to above were the main source of disturbance of sleep, they were ‘Road traffic' mentioned by ‘Children playing’ by 8% ,and ‘Domestic animals’ by of flat dwellers, and ‘Road traffic’, Domestic animals’ and ‘ Children playing’ mentioned by 15%, and 9% respectively of house dwellers.