Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements
The implementation of lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in wide-ranging social and environmental implications. Among the environmental impacts is a decrease in urban noise levels which has so far been observed at the city scale via noise mapping efforts conducted through th...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
De Gruyter
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Noise Mapping |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/noise-2020-0011 |
| _version_ | 1818726698924900352 |
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| author | Aletta Francesco Oberman Tin Mitchell Andrew Tong Huan Kang Jian |
| author_facet | Aletta Francesco Oberman Tin Mitchell Andrew Tong Huan Kang Jian |
| author_sort | Aletta Francesco |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The implementation of lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in wide-ranging social and environmental implications. Among the environmental impacts is a decrease in urban noise levels which has so far been observed at the city scale via noise mapping efforts conducted through the framework of the Environmental Noise Directive. This study aims to understand how lockdown measures have manifested at a local level to better determine how the person-level experience of the urban soundscape has been affected and how these affects differ across urban space typologies. Taking London as a case study, a series of 30-second binaural recordings were taken at 11 locations representing a cross-section of urban public spaces with varying compositions of sound sources during Spring 2019 (pre-lockdown, N = 620) and Spring 2020 (during-lockdown, N = 481). Five acoustic and psychoacoustic metrics (LAeq, LA10, LA90, Loudness, Sharpness) were calculated for each recording and their changes from the pre-lockdown scenario to the lockdown scenario are investigated. Clustering analysis was performed which grouped the locations into 3 types of urban settings based on their acoustic characteristics. An average reduction of 5.4 dB (LAeq) was observed, however significant differences in the degree of reduction were found across the locations, ranging from a 10.7 dB to a 1.2 dB reduction. This study confirms the general reduction in noise levels due to the nationally imposed lockdown measures, identifies trends which vary depending on the urban context and discusses the implications for the limits of urban noise reduction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T22:02:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-667cc45512c647a49f11fd27f20cc52c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2084-879X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T22:02:21Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Noise Mapping |
| spelling | doaj.art-667cc45512c647a49f11fd27f20cc52c2022-12-21T21:30:57ZengDe GruyterNoise Mapping2084-879X2020-08-017112313410.1515/noise-2020-0011noise-2020-0011Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurementsAletta Francesco0Oberman Tin1Mitchell Andrew2Tong Huan3Kang Jian4Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, WC1H 0NNLondon, United KingdomInstitute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, WC1H 0NNLondon, United KingdomInstitute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, WC1H 0NNLondon, United KingdomInstitute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, WC1H 0NNLondon, United KingdomInstitute for Environmental Design and Engineering, University College London, WC1H 0NNLondon, United KingdomThe implementation of lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in wide-ranging social and environmental implications. Among the environmental impacts is a decrease in urban noise levels which has so far been observed at the city scale via noise mapping efforts conducted through the framework of the Environmental Noise Directive. This study aims to understand how lockdown measures have manifested at a local level to better determine how the person-level experience of the urban soundscape has been affected and how these affects differ across urban space typologies. Taking London as a case study, a series of 30-second binaural recordings were taken at 11 locations representing a cross-section of urban public spaces with varying compositions of sound sources during Spring 2019 (pre-lockdown, N = 620) and Spring 2020 (during-lockdown, N = 481). Five acoustic and psychoacoustic metrics (LAeq, LA10, LA90, Loudness, Sharpness) were calculated for each recording and their changes from the pre-lockdown scenario to the lockdown scenario are investigated. Clustering analysis was performed which grouped the locations into 3 types of urban settings based on their acoustic characteristics. An average reduction of 5.4 dB (LAeq) was observed, however significant differences in the degree of reduction were found across the locations, ranging from a 10.7 dB to a 1.2 dB reduction. This study confirms the general reduction in noise levels due to the nationally imposed lockdown measures, identifies trends which vary depending on the urban context and discusses the implications for the limits of urban noise reduction.https://doi.org/10.1515/noise-2020-0011soundscapequiet areaspsychoacousticscovid-19urban noise levels |
| spellingShingle | Aletta Francesco Oberman Tin Mitchell Andrew Tong Huan Kang Jian Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements Noise Mapping soundscape quiet areas psychoacoustics covid-19 urban noise levels |
| title | Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements |
| title_full | Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements |
| title_short | Assessing the changing urban sound environment during the COVID-19 lockdown period using short-term acoustic measurements |
| title_sort | assessing the changing urban sound environment during the covid 19 lockdown period using short term acoustic measurements |
| topic | soundscape quiet areas psychoacoustics covid-19 urban noise levels |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/noise-2020-0011 |
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