What do hedonic studies of the costs of road traffic noise nuisance tell us?

The value or cost of noise nuisance is important as it enables judgments to be made on the costs and benefits of interventions. This paper presents a review and meta-analysis of hedonic pricing (HP) studies of road traffic noise nuisance. Noise nuisance has commonly been valued using HP, a revealed preference approach based on the housing market, where house price is a function of a myriad of characteristics of the house and the surrounding area including noise. The value of noise obtained is expressed as the percentage change in house prices that results from a 1 decibel (dB) change in noise levels (Noise Depreciation Index, NDI). The approach is broadly accepted and underpins most values used in Government transport appraisals. However, the range of values is large, from 0.08 to 2.21 NDI according to the last review of the literature in 2001. This paper examines available studies to shed light on the variation in noise values, as well as new methodological developments, such as the widespread use of spatial econometrics and addressing non-linearities of noise values.