Those Wretched Decibels

A new European Index of noise
  A project aims to create Harmonica, by 2014, a new index of noise, simple to understand by the population. Traditional indicators combine data that reflect the intensity of noise in decibels and other aspects that measure events, such as horns, in addition to background noise. Currently, the noise maps indicate the noise levels generated by the transport infrastructure or industrial sites regardless of fluctuating noises. The variety of different noise sources is not always evaluated. The new index will include all the parameters by offering a simple scale ranging from 1 to 10. This will lead to the creation of an Internet portal for disseminating the results of the noise levels of different cities in Europe.