Seasonal Variability of the Acoustic Climate of Ski Resorts in the Aosta Valley Territory
The Aosta Valley is an alpine region in north-west Italy that is characterized by a high level of naturalness, with extensive uninhabited areas that are distant from artificial sound sources. The Aosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA-VdA) has been particularly sensitive to the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-02-01
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| Series: | Environments |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/7/3/18 |
| _version_ | 1811263624520400896 |
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| author | Christian Tibone Marco Masoero Filippo Berlier Giovanni Tabozzi Daniele Crea Christian Tartin Marco Cappio Borlino Giovanni Agnesod |
| author_facet | Christian Tibone Marco Masoero Filippo Berlier Giovanni Tabozzi Daniele Crea Christian Tartin Marco Cappio Borlino Giovanni Agnesod |
| author_sort | Christian Tibone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Aosta Valley is an alpine region in north-west Italy that is characterized by a high level of naturalness, with extensive uninhabited areas that are distant from artificial sound sources. The Aosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA-VdA) has been particularly sensitive to the preservation of the soundscape, which is considered an integral part of the landscape, since the laws on noise pollution were first introduced. The nature of the ski areas in the Aosta mountains, which undergoes changes throughout the year, is surely of great importance, especially during the winter season, when the number of visitors is particularly high. In fact, during the winter, the sounds of nature are replaced by those produced by recreation and sports activities. Mountain and snow tourism, which are developed in sensitive environmental contexts in the Aosta Valley, are sectors of immense social and economic importance. Much of this tourism takes place in ski resorts. Three mountain areas with different characteristics, in terms of attendance and recreational/sport activities, have been examined in this paper, as part of a collaboration between ARPA-VdA and the Politecnico di Torino. Acoustic measurements were performed in order to identify the seasonal variations of sound emissions from both natural and anthropic sound sources. In addition to the standard environmental acoustic descriptors foreseen by European legislation (L<sub>Aeq</sub>, L<sub>n</sub>, L<sub>den</sub>, etc.), the harmonica (I<sub>H</sub>) index, which provides a quantitative evaluation of the acoustic quality on a zero to ten numerical scale, was used to qualify the acoustic climate of the three areas. The results presented in the paper provide useful information on a relevant subject—the preservation of the acoustic quality of a mountain area of touristic importance—which has been scarcely investigated so far. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:48:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6f3c6c98a2124871884b8dc024df4230 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3298 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T19:48:49Z |
| publishDate | 2020-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environments |
| spelling | doaj.art-6f3c6c98a2124871884b8dc024df42302022-12-22T03:18:53ZengMDPI AGEnvironments2076-32982020-02-01731810.3390/environments7030018environments7030018Seasonal Variability of the Acoustic Climate of Ski Resorts in the Aosta Valley TerritoryChristian Tibone0Marco Masoero1Filippo Berlier2Giovanni Tabozzi3Daniele Crea4Christian Tartin5Marco Cappio Borlino6Giovanni Agnesod7Aosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency, loc. La Maladière 48, 11020 Saint Christophe, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, ItalyAosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency, loc. La Maladière 48, 11020 Saint Christophe, ItalyDepartment of Energy, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, ItalyAosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency, loc. La Maladière 48, 11020 Saint Christophe, ItalyAosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency, loc. La Maladière 48, 11020 Saint Christophe, ItalyAosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency, loc. La Maladière 48, 11020 Saint Christophe, ItalyAosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency, loc. La Maladière 48, 11020 Saint Christophe, ItalyThe Aosta Valley is an alpine region in north-west Italy that is characterized by a high level of naturalness, with extensive uninhabited areas that are distant from artificial sound sources. The Aosta Valley Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA-VdA) has been particularly sensitive to the preservation of the soundscape, which is considered an integral part of the landscape, since the laws on noise pollution were first introduced. The nature of the ski areas in the Aosta mountains, which undergoes changes throughout the year, is surely of great importance, especially during the winter season, when the number of visitors is particularly high. In fact, during the winter, the sounds of nature are replaced by those produced by recreation and sports activities. Mountain and snow tourism, which are developed in sensitive environmental contexts in the Aosta Valley, are sectors of immense social and economic importance. Much of this tourism takes place in ski resorts. Three mountain areas with different characteristics, in terms of attendance and recreational/sport activities, have been examined in this paper, as part of a collaboration between ARPA-VdA and the Politecnico di Torino. Acoustic measurements were performed in order to identify the seasonal variations of sound emissions from both natural and anthropic sound sources. In addition to the standard environmental acoustic descriptors foreseen by European legislation (L<sub>Aeq</sub>, L<sub>n</sub>, L<sub>den</sub>, etc.), the harmonica (I<sub>H</sub>) index, which provides a quantitative evaluation of the acoustic quality on a zero to ten numerical scale, was used to qualify the acoustic climate of the three areas. The results presented in the paper provide useful information on a relevant subject—the preservation of the acoustic quality of a mountain area of touristic importance—which has been scarcely investigated so far.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/7/3/18alpine regionseasonal tourist resortsski resortsacoustic climatesoundscapeacoustic qualityharmonica index (ih) |
| spellingShingle | Christian Tibone Marco Masoero Filippo Berlier Giovanni Tabozzi Daniele Crea Christian Tartin Marco Cappio Borlino Giovanni Agnesod Seasonal Variability of the Acoustic Climate of Ski Resorts in the Aosta Valley Territory Environments alpine region seasonal tourist resorts ski resorts acoustic climate soundscape acoustic quality harmonica index (ih) |
| title | Seasonal Variability of the Acoustic Climate of Ski Resorts in the Aosta Valley Territory |
| title_full | Seasonal Variability of the Acoustic Climate of Ski Resorts in the Aosta Valley Territory |
| title_fullStr | Seasonal Variability of the Acoustic Climate of Ski Resorts in the Aosta Valley Territory |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seasonal Variability of the Acoustic Climate of Ski Resorts in the Aosta Valley Territory |
| title_short | Seasonal Variability of the Acoustic Climate of Ski Resorts in the Aosta Valley Territory |
| title_sort | seasonal variability of the acoustic climate of ski resorts in the aosta valley territory |
| topic | alpine region seasonal tourist resorts ski resorts acoustic climate soundscape acoustic quality harmonica index (ih) |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3298/7/3/18 |
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