As used in this chapter, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
ANSI
American National Standards Institute or its successors.
APPLIANCE
Any device or combination of devices used or capable of being
used as a means of accomplishing a desired end, such as a window air
conditioning unit.
DAY
The twenty-four-hour period starting at local midnight.
DECIBEL (dB)
A unit of sound level which is a division of logarithmic
scale used to express the ratio of the sound intensity of the source
to the intensity of arbitrarily chosen reference intensity. The ratio
is expressed on the decibel scale by multiplying its "base 10 logarithm"
by 10.
EQUIPMENT
Any devices or combination of devices to accomplish a desired
end, such as a chainsaw, bulldozer, etc.
EXCESSIVE NOISE
Excessive noise is that sound which is:
(1)
Injurious or which unreasonably interferes with
the comfortable enjoyment of life and property. Measured noise levels
in excess of limits established in these regulations or those specified
in valid permits are declared to be excessive noise;
(2)
Annoying to a person of ordinary sensibilities.
FLUCTUATING NOISE
A fluctuating noise is a whose sound level varies significantly
with time.
IMPULSIVE NOISE
Impulsive noise is characterized by brief excursions of sound
level. The duration of a single impulse is usually less than one second.
INTERMITTENT NOISE
An intermittent noise is a noise whose sound level exceeds
the ambient noise levels at least twice during the period of observation,
which is one minute or more. The period of time during which the level
of the noise remains at an essentially constant value different from
that of the ambient is on the order of one second or more.
NOISE
Noise is any sound emitted by a person, animal, vehicle,
appliance, equipment or other devise and its environmental interaction.
PERSON
Either the owner or operator of vehicles, appliances, equipment
or devices.
PERIOD OF OBSERVATION
The time interval during which acoustical data are obtained.
The period of observation is determined by the characteristics of
the noise being measured and the instrumentation being used. The period
of observation must be at least as long as the response time of the
instrumentation. The greater the variance in individual sound level,
the longer must be the observation time for a given expected accuracy
of measurement.
S.A.E.
Society of Automotive Engineers.
SOUND LEVEL (NOISE LEVEL)
Airborne sound levels are expressed in dB and obtained by
the use of specific frequency dependent weighting networks, as specified
in the referenced standards. If the A-weighting is employed, the sound
level is identified as dB(A).
SOUND LEVEL METER
A sound level meter is an instrument, or combination of instruments,
which meets or exceeds the requirements for an ANSI Type SIA or Type
82A Sound Level Meter.
STEADY NOISE
A noise whose level remains essentially constant (i.e., fluctuations
are less than five dB) during the period of observation is a steady
noise.
VEHICLE
Any device, or combination of devices, used for or capable
of being used for transporting persons or property. Vehicles include,
but are not limited to, the following: automobiles, trucks, buses,
motorcycles, motorized bicycles, snowmobiles, scooters, all-terrain
vehicles, go-carts, racers and like devices, farm machinery, industrial
machinery, highway graders, trailers, graders, and semitrailers.