Jorge P. Arenas
Inst. of Acoust., Facultad de Ciencias de la Ingenieria, Univ. Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile
Martin Gutierrez V.
Inst. of Acoust., Univ. Austral de Chile, Casilla 1130, Valdivia, Chile
The final aim of this work is to show a comparative study about the most important aspects of the noise regulations in some South American countries. It includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. Where national standards exist in a particular country, the area of application, and other details of the procedures, should be in accordance with the standards of that country. The differences between national standards are extremely significant for some types of noise. The most important parameters for nonoccupational noise considered when assessing the acceptability of a given noise exposure are: the time of the day (day time, evening, night time), the type of neighborhood, the use to which an area of land or building is put, and sometimes the indoor standards. The basic criteria is not to alter the character of an entire area and dominate its noise climate. In some countries the occupational regulations are combinations of ISO and OSHA standards. Differences were noted in some dose criterias and the trade-off between noise level and permitted exposure time is still the subject of some divergence of opinion. Some standards allows 3 dB (or 5 dB) increase in noise level per halving of exposure duration.