Study on the Establishment of a Diversified National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network in Seven Major Cities of India

We describe the diversified National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network (NANMN) set up across 7 major cities of India and covering 70 stations for continuous noise monitoring throughout the year. The annual average L_day (06–22 h) and L_night (22–06 h) values observed in 2015 for these 70 locations are described. Of these, 25 locations are in commercial zones, 12 in industrial, 16 in residential and 17 in silence zones. Each city has 10 noise monitoring stations installed for analysing environmental noise pollution levels round the clock (24 x 365 h). The long-term noise monitoring shows that ambient noise levels are very high compared to the recommended standards for some sites and thus noise abatement measures are essentially required for controlling these levels. The present study is focused on evaluation, analysis and reporting of environmental noise pollution in seven major cities of India and is instrumental in planning for the noise abatement measures for controlling noise pollution in these cities. Such a noise monitoring network established in India is unique and one of the largest noise monitoring networks of its kind across the globe.