This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Wallhaven 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 918 Wallhaven residents, or 24.6%, live above that level. By land area, 35.1% of Wallhaven is above 55 dBA.
See how noise in Wallhaven compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Wallhaven
Average noise levels for Wallhaven residents, grouped by direction from the center of Wallhaven. The highest population-weighted average is in western Wallhaven; the lowest is in central Wallhaven, where just 13% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in the loudest section.
Western Wallhaven
31% of people above 55 dBA
Southwestern Wallhaven
26% of people above 55 dBA
Southeastern Wallhaven
57% of people above 55 dBA
Northeastern Wallhaven
24% of people above 55 dBA
Central Wallhaven
13% of people above 55 dBA
To the human ear, noise in western Wallhaven sounds about 185% louder than in central Wallhaven, a 15.1 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 Wallhaven
The bar chart below shows the share of Wallhaven residents in each noise band. About 74% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 2% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Wallhaven Compares
Wallhaven sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Wallhaven's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Downtown Akron, Summit Lake, Elizabeth Park Valley, and Middlebury.
Average noise level (dBA)
Wallhaven's 51.6 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Ohio as a whole averages 51.1 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Wallhaven because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 24.6% of Wallhaven residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's fewer than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 35.1% of Wallhaven's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Ohio average of 26.4% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Wallhaven
- 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 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 27% of Wallhaven is under tree cover (heavier than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is low-density developed open space. 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.