The Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) Qatar Group recently held an online technical seminar on *Road traffic noise and why is it so hard to control, for professionals engaged in the highways and transportation sector.

Gerald Stewart, principal and global lead of acoustics for Inhabit (an Egis company), was the guest speaker at the event.
He highlighted the reasons of road traffic noise, where it begins, how it is measured and why it is so difficult to control.
Stewart indicated that 30% of people are exposed to a road traffic noise level above World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.
He also discussed how road traffic noise could have adverse health and financial effects, including the cost on the quality of life.
Stewart presented the scale of the noise problem and explained the methodologies to measure noise level.
He highlighted that driving machine noise and tyre-to-surface noise are the main sources of road traffic noise.
He also explained the road surface characteristics in terms of geometric features and their acoustic properties.
Road traffic noise is also dependent on the type of road surface, porosity, tortuosity, airflow resistance and layer thickness.
As the aggregate size decreases, the sound absorption often increases, too.
He highlighted that the selection of pavement surfacing must have regard to the long-term performance of skid resistance, aquaplaning, shear strength and noise.
The speaker also shed light on his global contributions in this domain and insight, ideas and thoughts on what is currently being done in the region and beyond, with several examples, including a completed project in Qatar.
He added that engineers "should start looking at making a change now so that we can all work towards reducing road traffic noise".
The presentation was well-received by the audience, followed by a detailed question-and-answer session.
The seminar is part of the CIHT Qatar Group’s events.
The Group thanked its sponsors, Aecom, BG&E, DCE, Egis, Fugro, Muhel, PAF, PTV Group, Salfo, Seero, and WSP, for their contribution to the event.