Status of the revision of ISO 1996-1 standard on the assessment of environmental noise

The international standard on "Description, measurement and assessment of environmental noise - basic quantities and assessment procedures" ISO 1996 Part 1 is a major international reference document that both inspires and is inspired by regional and national standards on noise assessment. It is supplemented by a number of standards including ISO 1996 Part 2 which deals with the determination of sound pressure levels, Part 1 defines the basic quantities to be used for the description of noise in community environments and describes basic assessment procedures. It specifies methods to assess environmental noise and gives guidance on predicting the potential annoyance response of a community to long-term exposure from various types of environmental noises. The current edition from 2016 is under revision, as an ISO "preliminary work item." This paper will explain why it was decided to revise the standard, what comments were submitted during the standard's systematic review, and the topics under discussion in the working group assigned by ISO to revise it. In addition, it will describe the process of revision within the ISO structure including the current development framework, the status of the revision and the planned next steps.