The effects of road surface and tyre deterioration on tyre/road noise emission

Tyre/road noise is becoming a more and more significant source of road traffic noise as engines become quieter. To reduce the traffic noise nuisance, low noise road surfaces and tyres have been adopted in noise sensitive areas. The durability and persistency of these low noise road surfaces and tyres are of great concerns. This study aims to quantify the effects of road and tyre deterioration on tyre/road noise. The results show that the tyre/road noise measured on five types of low noise surface material increased by 1.2–1.5 dB(A) per year. The tyre rubber hardness increased by 0.6 shore-A value per month. The tyre/road noise level increased by 0.08–0.48 dB(A) for every unit of shore-A value increase, depending on the road surface material. It is evident that the minimum effect of the test tyre aging on tyre/road noise measurement is 0.6 dB(A) per year.