This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Audubon Place at 100-meter resolution, combining road, aviation, and rail sources. Green areas measure below 45 dBA. Orange and red exceed the EPA's 55 dBA outdoor threshold linked to long-term health effects. Use the layer toggles to view each source on its own or all together.
What the numbers sound like
- 30 dBAWhisper
- 40 dBASoft rainfall
- 45 dBAQuiet suburban street at night
- 50 dBAQuiet office
- 55 dBAEPA outdoor threshold: light traffic 100 ft away
- 60 dBANormal conversation an arm's length away
- 65 dBABusy restaurant
- 70 dBAHighway traffic 50 ft away
- 80 dBACity bus interior
Population Above the EPA Outdoor Threshold
The EPA's 55 dBA outdoor reference level is a common benchmark for residential noise exposure, especially for activity interference, annoyance, and long-term community noise concerns. About 1,935 Audubon Place residents, or 35.8%, live above that level. By land area, 52.8% of Audubon Place is above 55 dBA.
See how noise in Audubon Place compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Audubon Place
Average noise levels for Audubon Place residents, grouped by direction from the center of Audubon Place. The highest population-weighted average is in western Audubon Place; the lowest is in southern Audubon Place, where just 57% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, roughly the same as the share in the loudest section.
Western Audubon Place
50% of people above 55 dBA
Southwestern Audubon Place
59% of people above 55 dBA
Northeastern Audubon Place
30% of people above 55 dBA
Central Audubon Place
33% of people above 55 dBA
Southern Audubon Place
57% of people above 55 dBA
To the human ear, noise in western Audubon Place sounds about 39% louder than in southern Audubon Place, a 4.8 dBA gap. Every 10 dBA roughly doubles perceived loudness. Within any of these directions, two homes a quarter mile apart can still differ by 10 or more dBA depending on how close they sit to a major highway.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Audubon Place
The bar chart below shows the share of Audubon Place residents in each noise band. About 74% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 1% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Audubon Place Compares
Audubon Place sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Audubon Place's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with ingleside-village-tuscaloosa-al, historic-downtown-northport-al, sommerville-tuscaloosa-al, and Riverchase Country Club.
Average noise level (dBA)
Audubon Place's 53.3 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Alabama as a whole averages 49.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Audubon Place because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 35.8% of Audubon Place residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's in the middle of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 52.8% of Audubon Place's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Alabama average of 20.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Audubon Place
- Distance from highways matters more than the neighborhood name. Two homes in the same zip code can differ by 20 dBA if one sits 100 meters from 24TH Ave and the other 500 meters away. The model captures this at 100-meter resolution, so noise exposure changes block by block.
- Tree canopy can help reduce modeled noise exposure. Roughly 9% of Audubon Place is under tree cover (lighter than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is medium-intensity developed land. Both are measured from federal USDA Forest Service and USGS satellite imagery at 30-meter resolution. Streets with 60% or higher canopy show 3 to 5 dBA lower noise than comparable streets with bare ground or pavement, which is why the per-place decay rate above already accounts for it.
Sources & Methodology
The BestNeighborhood noise model is calibrated against nearly one million federal ground-truth measurements across four states. Road noise is computed from segment-level federal traffic data and propagated outward using physics-based acoustic decay, with attenuation rates that depend on the surrounding land cover.
Federal datasets used:
FHWA Highway Performance Monitoring System: road geometry, traffic counts, lane configuration
U.S. DoT Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Noise Map: aviation and rail noise, road calibration ground truth
USGS / MRLC National Land Cover Database: land cover and impervious surface coverage
USDA Forest Service Tree Canopy Cover: vegetation density for sound propagation
U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line: block-level geography and population
U.S. EPA Levels Document: 55 dBA outdoor reference level
All inputs are published federal datasets. Block-level noise is computed by combining road, rail, and aviation sound sources in the energy domain, the same physics used in professional environmental noise assessments. Read the full methodology.