Noise Levels in Ballentine Place, Norfolk, VA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
55 dBA
Average noise across Ballentine Place
Quiet office to normal conversation
1,828
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
49% of Ballentine Place residents
71 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Ballentine 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 1,828 Ballentine Place residents, or 48.8%, live above that level. By land area, 58.1% of Ballentine Place is above 55 dBA.
41.9% below 55 dBA
58.1% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Ballentine Place compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Ballentine Place
Average noise levels for Ballentine Place residents, grouped by direction from the center of Ballentine Place. The highest population-weighted average is in eastern Ballentine Place; the lowest is in northwestern Ballentine Place, where just 46% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in the loudest section.
Eastern Ballentine Place
60.6 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southeastern Ballentine Place
58.7 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Central Ballentine Place
56.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Ballentine Place
56.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northwestern Ballentine Place
55.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in eastern Ballentine Place sounds about 40% louder than in northwestern Ballentine Place, a 4.9 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 far back from Cromwell Rd do you need to be?
Cromwell Rd produces an estimated 63 dBA at its loudest centerline points. Noise drops logarithmically with distance, with the exact rate depending on what's between you and the road. Tree cover, walls, terrain, and pavement type all matter. At roughly a quarter mile back, traffic fades into the noise level of a soft rainfall.
At source
63 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
49 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
41 dBA
Soft rainfall
660 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 26% of Ballentine Place sits under tree canopy (heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 50% is impervious surface like pavement and rooftops. Both are folded into the per-place decay rate above. Heavier canopy pulls noise down faster with distance; impervious surfaces slow the drop.
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Rail Noise
Active freight rail runs through parts of Ballentine Place. For most blocks the rail-only contribution is small. Combined road-plus-rail noise rarely exceeds road noise on its own. The exceptions are the handful of blocks within roughly a quarter mile of the right-of-way during pass-through hours.
Use the Rail toggle on the map above to isolate rail's contribution from road and aviation.
Airport Noise
Norfolk International (ORF) sits northeast of Ballentine Place. The U.S. Department of Transportation models aviation noise around this airport from federal traffic data, and the model uses those federal measurements rather than synthetic predictions.
Blocks under the approach and departure paths carry combined road-plus-aviation noise, with some exceeding 45 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Ballentine Place, particularly to the southwest, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Ballentine Place
The bar chart below shows the share of Ballentine Place residents in each noise band. About 41% 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 Ballentine Place Compares
Ballentine Place sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Ballentine Place's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Fairmont Park, Central Brambleton, Lamberts Point, and Larrymore Lawns.
Average noise level (dBA)
Ballentine Place's 54.8 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Virginia as a whole averages 52.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Ballentine Place because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 48.8% of Ballentine 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, 58.1% of Ballentine Place's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Virginia average of 30.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Ballentine 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 Cromwell Rd 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 26% of Ballentine Place is under tree cover (heavier 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.
- Airport noise is directional. Norfolk International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
