Measurement and evaluation of the environmental noise levels in the urban areas of the city of Nis (Serbia) Momir R. Prascevic & Darko I. Mihajlov & Dragan S. Cvetkovic Received: 14 April 2013 / Accepted: 14 September 2013 / Published online: 3 October 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract The environmental noise level represents one of the key factors of life quality in urban areas of modern cities. A continuous monitoring of the noise levels and the analysis of results have become a necessity when we discuss a possible recovery of those areas with high levels of noise pollution, and particularly, those zones which were designed for specific activities, e.g., areas around hospitals and schools. The city of Nis, Serbia, owing to the permanent long-term noise monitoring, possesses a database containing figures related to the noise levels at relevant locations in the city, which can serve as a basis for an analysis of the change of condi- tions, their tendencies in the future, and recognizing factors which influence the danger of noise pollution. The paper involves an analysis of the environmental noise level collected during the previous years. Keywords Noise figure . Noise measurement . Traffic noise . Noise pollution . Noise assessment . Environmental noise Introduction Noise pollution represents a major problem in the envi- ronment of most urban areas. However, the problem of noise has not been approached properly so far, and not enough attention has been paid to it in spite of the fact that it has a great impact on the quality of life of the endan- gered population. Reasons for such an approach could be found in the definition of noise as a subjective experience of various external events, in its specific character, as well as in the difficulties connected to relating the causes with the effects it has on general health (Prascevic and Cvetkovic 2005). The results of medical studies (Langdon and Griffiths 1981; Maschke et al. 1999; Skanberg and Ohrstrom 2002) have shown that noise can have very adverse effects on human health and thus have justified the need for further explorations aiming at a better understanding and an improved control over noise. Moreover, the level of environmental noise pollution has a great economic impact on real estate prices in residential and business areas. Theebe (2004) has shown that traffic noise cause a 5 % drop in real estate prices on the average, and that the percentage can go up to 12 % in times of economic growth. These facts stimulated researchers from all around the world to dedicate more time to studying and defining the issue of traffic noise (Pandya 2001; Korfali and Massoud 2003; Georgiadou et al. 2004; Jamrah et al. 2006; Omokhodion et al. 2008; Doygum and Gurun 2008). The latest data related to the environmental noise pollution (Vos and Licitra 2012), collected from the Environ Monit Assess (2014) 186:1157–1165 DOI 10.1007/s10661-013-3446-2 M. R. Prascevic (*) : D. I. Mihajlov : D. S. Cvetkovic Faculty of Occupational Safety, Department of Noise and Vibration, University of Nis, Carnojevica 10a, 18000 Nis, Serbia e-mail: momir.prascevic@znrfak.ni.ac.rs D. I. Mihajlov e-mail: darko.mihajlov@znrfak.ni.ac.rs D. S. Cvetkovic e-mail: dragan.cvetkovic@znrfak.ni.ac.rs