Home › Guide › Noise: what the midday viewing does not tell you
Noise: what the midday viewing does not tell you
The European noise directive requires maps, every five years, of roads, railways, airports and large cities: how much noise reaches every façade by day and by night. They are public and take five minutes to consult. Most buyers visit the flat on a Saturday at noon.
Lden and Ln
The maps give two indicators in decibels: Lden (day-evening-night, with evening and night penalties) and Ln (night, 23:00 to 07:00). For sleeping, Ln is the one that matters. The World Health Organization recommends no more than 45 dB Ln from road traffic; the Spanish acoustic-quality objective for a residential façade is 55 dB at night. Between 55 and 65 sit many urban façades; above 65 it is hard to sleep with the window open.
Where to look
SICA (CEDEX, MITECO) publishes the maps of each round: the main state roads and railways, airports and agglomerations over 100,000 inhabitants. Regions and provincial councils publish theirs (Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Álava for their roads; Metro Bilbao; the Valencia region; the cities of Madrid and Barcelona). Find the parcel, switch on Ln and read the band the façade falls in.
What the map does not cover
Small streets, bars, roadworks, neighbours, occasional industrial noise. A map that draws nothing on your street does not say it is quiet: it says it is not a major axis. And the maps are made with models, not with microphones at your window.
What to ask and what to do
Visit at 23:00 on a Friday and on a Tuesday. Ask about the glazing (double glazing with an air gap and thermal-break frames changes 10 dB) and the orientation of the bedroom. If the map gives ≥ 60 Ln and you plan to renovate, budget for windows.
What the PropVer report does
It intersects the parcel with the night contours of the most recent round of every package loaded (SICA rounds 3 and 4, regional and municipal maps), says which band the centroid and the most exposed façade fall in, which source (road, railway, metro, agglomeration) and which round; and where the municipality has no strategic map, marks it "not consulted — outside the strategic maps".
Check it yourself
Check your property in two minutes
Address, cadastral reference, coordinates or a click on the map. If it is in the service area, the report is free during the beta.
Updated 2026-10-23.