Showing papers in "Noise Mapping in 2021"

Noise complaints during a pandemic: A longitudinal analysis

Abstract: COVID-19 has affected people's lives in different ways from reduced mobility and staying-at-home orders to other daily life routines These changes have, in turn, affected the quality of life in urban environments including air quality and noise The noise aspect, for example, suggests quieter environments due to fewer vehicles on streets, and less human activities On the other hand, staying at home may cause more activities happening at the building level, i e , more people in buildings may make more noise for neighbors In order to understand this nexus, the study examines the noise complaints data in Dallas, USA To do this, the study first compares the noise complaints after the COVID-19 intercourse and the same data period in 2019 Findings surprisingly show reduced noise complaints during the COVID-19 time frame by about 14% compared to the pre-COVID-19 period The majority of this reduction occurred in and around the city center In other words, the noise complaints seem more spatially dispersed at the outskirts of the city Another finding that directs more detailed analyses, however, considers the massive reduction of ridership, traffic circulation, and building permits This needs some other techniques for determining the sources for incommensurate noise complaints © 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH All rights reserved

A survey on the soundscape perception before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy

Abstract: At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of lockdown measures highlights changes in terms of sounds and noises present in the everyday life The present paper deals with this peculiar and unexpected scenario as studied by means of an online survey consisting of 18 questions and distributed to residents in the Italian territory For studying the unprecedented effect of the pandemic, participants were asked to fill the questionnaire, providing personal data, describing context and characteristics of the house in which they live and making a comparison of the lockdown soundscape with the pre-lockdown one About four hundred questionnaires have been collected and analysed in order to define correlations between personal and perception variables Using logistic regression models, changes have been studied during the two above-mentioned periods It has been observed that the perception of traffic noise has increased for people over 35 years old and the noise produced by the neighbourhood has been more statistically significant for employed respondents Future outlook might provide the spread of the questionnaire in other countries for a global evaluation of the data, to be also acquired with reference to the after-lockdown period

Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on festival celebrations and noise pollution levels

Abstract: India is a country where every religion and community celebrates their culture Festivals have an important role in Indian culture and are celebrated whole-heartedly by the citizens Most of these celebrations culminate to causing pollution especially noise pollution due to festivities and rituals One such festival is Ganesh Chaturthi or Ganeshotsav which is magnificently celebrated in Maharashtra state of India In the present study, noise pollution levels during Ganeshotsav at famous community pandals in Mumbai city were monitored in the year 2020 Noise level data was analyzed based on indices such as L-10, L-50, L-90, noise pollution level (L-NP) and noise climate (NC) Comparison of noise levels was carried out for the collected data during Ganesh Chaturthi in the previous years of 2018 and 2019 The city witnessed simple festival celebration in eco-friendly manner leading to significant decrease in noise levels due to CoVID-19 pandemic The pandemic situation is an eye-opener for the city administration with demonstration in reduction of noise pollution Many aspects of the pandemic can be carried forward in making new guidelines and policies to curtail pollution and eco-friendly celebration of festivals

Rio de Janeiro noise mapping during the COVID-19 pandemic period

Abstract: This paper presents a comparison between the acoustic scenario at the Rio de Janeiro city center, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Undergoing one of the most important pandemics of the recent history, the social isolation led to a new acoustic scenario for Rio de Janeiro. The study was realized at the city center, an area of historical, economic and cultural relevance. The comparison consisted of analyzing measured data and noise maps produced for the city center area. The maps were created according to measured and collected data of the respective time periods. The acoustic scenario prior to the pandemic time was reconstructed based on previous measurements and data collection, while the pandemic one was built with data survey during the highest social isolation index on July 2020. The comparative analysis showed a considerable noise reduction, between 10 and 15 dB, for areas where the traffic noise was not intense and where the human activities were predominant on the streets. However, there was no substantial noise decrease for the areas around the major avenues. This occurred due to the traffic intensity drop to 50% during the pandemic, which meant a noise reduction between 3 and 5 dB. © 2021 Nayara Gevu et al., published by De Gruyter.

The "sound of silence" in Granada during the COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract: Exceptional circumstances in the city of Granada due to the COVID-19 lockdown have provided the opportunity to characterise the impact of humans on its urban acoustic climate Traditional environmental noise management and urban sound planning usually take into account noise sources in the city, such as industrial activities or road traffic noise, in model estimations, as well as in empirical research But trying to isolate human impact by itself, human activity including social activity, walking, talking or just going around the city, has always been a difficult or even impossible task The COVID-19 lockdown measures have provided the opportunity to study urban climate as never before, affected just by natural or animal noise sources Previous soundscape research at some iconic sites in the city of Granada carried out in 2019 before the lockdown and a special measuring campaign carried out at the same locations during the lockdown in 2020 offered valuable information on sound levels and local characteristics in order to carry out this comparison Results show a great change in environmental noise levels that is interesting not only because of its magnitude, but also for its implications, especially at those sites where social human activity was an identifying characteristic Natural or animal sounds became surprisingly evident at some study sites, especially where road traffic noise dramatically decreased, leading to significantly lower background noise levels Important spectral changes are observed before and during the lockdown, suggesting a shift from anthropic to animal sources in the acoustic environment © 2021 Jeronimo Vida Manzano et al , published by De Gruyter 2021

Effects of COVID-19 outbreak on the sound environment of the city of Milan, Italy

Abstract: In this paper, we present the results of the noise monitoring in the urban area of Milan, Italy, associated with COVID-19 outbreak In order to limit the diffusion of the pandemic, Italy adopted growing levels of restrictive measures, which ended with a 41-day lockdown from March 23 to May 3 2020 This action created a new kind of environment including a remarkable reduction of air, water and soil pollutants, together with a partial recovery of the ecosystems otherwise compromised The presence of a permanent noise monitoring system made of 24 sensors installed in the city of Milan, allowed capturing the changes in the urban sound environment in a pre, during and post-lockdown period (months from February to June 2020) The comparison of the noise levels in terms of both absolute noise levels (Lden) and hourly noise profiles (median over lockdown period) with the same period of 2019, showed a dramatic reduction of the noise levels of approximately 6 dB Splitting the contribution of all-non-traffic noises or anomalous noise events (ANE) from the recorded noise levels, we observe a greater contribution of the latter during the lockdown period The use of DYNAMAP noise prediction system over an extended urban area allowed the evaluation of the population exposure to noise, estimating an increase of 14 9% and 16 4% of the exposed population to noises with Lden below 53 dB(A) and Lnight below 45 dB(A) with respect to 2019

On the multipath effects due to wall reflections for wave reception in a corner

Abstract: Abstract Multipath effects occur when receiving a wave near a corner, for example, the noise of an helicopter or an aircraft or a drone or other forms of urban air mobility near a building, or a telecommunications receiver antenna near an obstacle. The total signal received in a corner consists of four parts: (i) a direct signal from source to observer; (ii) a second signal reflected on the ground; (iii) a third signal reflected on the wall; (iv) a fourth signal reflected from both wall and ground. The problem is solved in two-dimensions to specify the total signal, whose ratio to the direct signal specifies the multipath factor. The amplitude and phase of the multipath factor are plotted as functions of the frequency over the audible range, for various relative positions of observer and source, and for several combinations of the reflection coefficients of the ground and wall. It is shown that the received signal consists of a double series of spectral bands, in other words: (i) the interference effects lead to spectral bands with peaks and zeros; (ii) the successive peaks also go through zeros and “peaks of the peaks”. The results apply not only to sound, but also to other waves, e.g., electromagnetic waves using the corresponding frequency band and reflection factors.

The Quiet Project - UK Acoustic Community's response to COVID19 during the easing of lockdown

Abstract: The COVID-19 lockdown created a new kind of environment both in the UK and globally, never experienced before or likely to occur again. A vital and time-critical working group was formed with the aim of gathering crowd-source high quality baseline noise levels and other supporting information across the UK during the lock-down and subsequent periods. The acoustic community were mobilised through existing networks engaging private companies, public organisations and academics to gather data in accessible places. In addition, pre-existing on-going measurements from major infrastructure projects, airport, and planning applications were gathered to create the largest possible databank. A website was designed and developed to advertise the project, provide instructions and to formalise the uploading of noise data, observations and soundscape feedback. Two case studies gathered in the latter stage of full lockdown are presented in the paper to illustrate the changes in the environmental noise conditions relative to transport activity. Ultimately the databank will be used to establish the relation to other impacts such as air quality, air traffic, economic, and health and wellbeing. As publicly funded research the databank will be made publicly available to assist future research.