Environmental Noise

Road traffic in urban areas is recognized to be associated with urban mobility and public health, and it is often the main source of noise pollution. Lately, noise maps have been considered a powerful tool to estimate the population exposure to environmental noise, but they need to be validated by measured noise data. The retrieved from a low-cost monitoring network. Indeed, the first objective should improve the spatial sampling based on the legislative road classification, as this classification is mainly based on the geometrical characteristics of the road, rather than its noise emission. The present paper describes the statistical approach of the methodology under development and the results of its preliminary application to a limited sample of roads in the city of Milan. The resulting categorization of roads, based on clustering the 24-h hourly L Aeqh , looks promising to optimize the spatial sampling of noise monitoring toward a description of the noise pollution due to complex urban road networks more efficient than that based on the legislative road classification.

El análisis de la contaminación por ruido urbano en las ciudades resulta de fundamental importancia para definir políticas de planificación urbana para orientar el desarrollo y crecimiento armónico de las ciudades y
compatibilizar los diferentes usos de suelo con la calidad de vida de los habitantes. En este trabajo se realizó un diagnóstico general de la contaminación sonora de una ciudad de tamaño mediano en pleno proceso de crecimiento como es la ciudad de Alta Gracia (Córdoba, Argentina) con el objetivo de proveer información para la modificación
de su plan de ordenamiento urbano y territorial. Se midió el nivel sonoro en estaciones distribuidas en toda la ciudad en diferentes franjas horarias y en distintos días de la semana. Se determinaron diferentes parámetros de contaminación sonora, se generaron mapas e indicadores de contaminación. Se estudió la correlación entre distintos indicadores, topografía del área y valor del suelo urbano. Se encontró que los niveles sonoros están asociados al uso del suelo, pero ni la topografía ni el valor unitario del terreno presentan un grado de correlación importante con los
indicadores de nivel de ruido.

RESUMEN El objetivo de esta investigación es determinar la percepción del ruido ambiental que tienen los estudiantes de la Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP), en la Unidad Académica Multidisciplinaria Zona Media (UAMZM). Además de ...

There is more to managing the community noise impacts of large outdoor concerts and festivals than simply setting a noise limit. An analysis of the data associated with outdoor concerts in Brisbane has identified that the risk of noise complaints is influenced by many factors other than the noise limits for the concert. The scheduling of events, frequency of events, event location, event duration, music genre and community engagement and attitudes can be more significant than the noise limits alone. This paper will explore all these factors and how understanding their influence on the community can enable noise regulators to go beyond the decibel to minimise the risk of noise complaints from large outdoor concerts and festivals.

Soundscape is the psychological construct resulting from the perception of an acoustic environment in context. While the concept has mostly been referred to 'urban' situations, it does apply to indoor contexts, and particularly to facilities like nursing homes, where specific caring functions are taking place. Recently there has been an increasing interest on the acoustic environment of care facilities and its potential to affect the experience of residents with dementia. There is evidence that poor soundscape quality affects negatively the quality of life of people with dementia and increases agitation. The AcustiCare project aims at using the soundscape approach to enhance the Quality of Life (QoL) of residents and to reduce Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD), as well as improving the everyday experience of nursing homes for both residents and staff members. In order to characterise the perception of the current acoustic environments, five living rooms in different nursing homes in Flanders were observed during a twelve-hour slot (07:00-19:00h) in a typical week day. Soundscape data were gathered every 30 minutes through a protocol adapted from soundscape literature. Preliminary results show that soundscape quality varied significantly between nursing homes (p<.001 for overall soundscape quality and appropriateness), but not over time during the observation periods (p=.817 and p=.935 for overall soundscape quality and appropriateness). This suggests that much depends on the nursing home but also that there is room for improvement for the soundscape daily pattern and time-varying soundscape strategies might be put in place to manage the acoustic environments of the nursing homes in order to improve the overall residents' experience.

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 ch...

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 level...

Smart cities are required to engage with local communities by promoting a user-centred approach to deal with urban life issues and ultimately enhance people’s quality of life. Soundscape promotes a similar approach, based on individuals’ perception of acoustic environments. This paper aims to establish a model to implement soundscape maps for the monitoring and management of the acoustic environment and to demonstrate its feasibility. The final objective of the model is to generate visual maps related to perceptual attributes (e.g. ‘calm’, ‘pleasant’), starting from audio recordings of everyday acoustic environments. The proposed model relies on three main stages: (1) sound sources recognition and profiling, (2) prediction of the soundscape’s perceptual attributes and (3) implementation of soundscape maps. This research particularly explores the two latter phases, for which a set of sub-processes and methods is proposed and discussed. An accuracy analysiswas performed with satisfact...

In the guidelines about the management of areas of good environmental noise quality recently published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) it is suggested to combine different methodologies, like noise mapping, sound level measurements and the soundscape approach. Such a recommendation has started to be recognised by a number of local authorities in Europe that are gradually integrating a holistic concept into their environmental noise policies. This research aimed to explore and demonstrate the possibility to integrate conventional noise mapping methods and soundscape methods in an actual urban redevelopment project. A case study was made using the Valley Gardens project in Brighton & Hove (UK). Different scenarios of sound-pressure level distributionswere simulated for both traffic sound sources (i.e. noise maps) and natural sound sources (i.e. sound maps). Additionally, individual responses about the sound environment of the place collected during an on-site question survey ...

Environmental noise is a very important issue in modern urban agglomerations and new policies are being explored in order to reduce high sound-pressure levels from transportation and industry, especially in urban contexts. Considering this issue from the subjective perspective, environmental noise is often related to noise annoyance. Over the years, possible solutions were explored for urban sound planning beyond the mere noise control engineering techniques and a number of international projects proposed innovative approaches to deal with this issue: most of them were traffic-related. In order to support the city management, it is suitable to analyse possible indirect effects of traffic limitations on the perception of the sonic environment. Indeed, it was observed that even traffic management plans with no specific focus on noise mitigation are likely to have acoustic implications. The present study investigated the variations of the sonic environment induced by the implementation...

Introduction Nowadays noise remains the third largest cause of environmental pollution on Earth. It appears that despite the existing noise control legislation the issue deserves further supervision by the public authorities so that the ceilings established for the various activities are observed. People exposed to noise are more likely to develop numerous auditory and non-auditory problems directly impacting persona family and working life. Objectives The objective of this study is to research and consequently understand how the population of students of a youth and adult school in Curitiba perceives noise pollution as well as look into the actions that the school adopts in order to guide the students on the topic. Method We applied a structured questionnaire to 120 individuals and assessed the following variables: characterization of the place of residence occupation leisure health and perception of soundscapes. We also applied a closed questionnaire about educational actions for ...

Increasing numbers of people living in urban areas are being exposed to harmful action of environmental noise, which severely affects their health and quality of life. The predominant source of environmental noise in such areas is road traffic, and a frequently used measure to curb down this noise involves reduction of driving speed. The influence of vertical traffic calming devices, normally used to improve traffic safety, on the degree of noise reduction, is analysed in this study. The analysis was carried out on seven urban two-lane two-way roads, on which various types of speed bumps and speed humps are installed.

With the rise of mobile communication systems, the background noise in the speaker&#39;s environment and its interaction with VoIP network impairment affects speech quality perception. This effect should be taken into account in nonintrusive models in order to improve accuracy of end user perception measurement. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of information contained in background noise (background speech, environmental sources) on speech quality perception. A subjective test on the speech quality perception in real network conditions has been done comparing the effect of stationary background noise mainly due to transmission equipment (electrical humming or blowing noises) with the effect of nonstationary environmental noise (public place, traffic noise, background conversation). Interactions between these different background noise condition and realistic network impairments (coders and packets loss) were also studied. The speech quality was evaluated through the...

LIFE MONZA project (Methodologies fOr Noise low emission Zones introduction And management) aims at defining an easy-replicable method for the identification and management of theNoise Low Emission Zones(Noise LEZ), urban areas subject to traffic restrictions, usually introduced in order to ensure compliance with the air pollutants limit values, prescribed by the European Directive on ambient air quality 2008/50/EC, whose impacts and potential benefits regarding noise issues have been taken into account, tested and analysed in a pilot area of the city of Monza, located in North Italy. Noise LEZ has been established in Libertà district, introducing infrastructural interventions carried out by the municipality (top-down actions) and encouraging an active involvement of the citizens, in the definition of a more sustainable lifestyle (bottom-up actions). The analysis of potential effects on noise reduction due to the Noise LEZ can contribute to the implementation of the EU Directive 200...

BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbance is a risk factor for somatic, psycho-social and spiritual dysfunction. It is also arguably the most deleterious effect of traffic noise pollution. Quantification of its burden is an anchor element of environmental policy making but no data are currently available for Bulgaria where the preponderance of dangerous nighttime noise exposure is highest in Europe. AIM: The aim of this study was to quantify the socio-economic burden of severe sleep disturbance due to traffic noise (road, aircraft and railway) in Bulgaria. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The official World Health Organization methodology used in Europe was applied in order to estimate this annual loss expressed as disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and their corresponding monetary value (assuming € 12 000 per DALY). RESULTS: Results showed that severe sleep disturbance due to all traffic sources was associated conservatively with 15 468 DALYs (8 839 - 22 097) and € 185 615 861 (€ 106 066 206 - € 265 ...

Transverse rumble strips (TRS) are widely used by local authorities to reduce vehicle speed and to alert the driver of road conditions ahead. This study investigated the application and effects of installation of TRS on the roadway to the traffic noise climate condition. The evaluations were carried out through changes in noise levels and changes in traffic noise index (TNI) which indicate the dissatisfaction. The samplings were performed at a road installed with two types of TRS which has most noise complaints, located at a highway that passes through a rural area of South Malaysia. Results show that TRS increase the sound level indices L Aeq , L 10 , L 90 significantly and also increase the TNI values. All TNI values exceed the value intended for planning purposes. Therefore, engineers should compromise the environmental effects and the role of TRS as a tool in safety aspect.

Relying on monitoring networks to compute or improve noise maps is an increasingly used approach. To be able to use this approach to provide adequate temporal treatments, a good understanding of the temporal variations within urban sound level time series is required. This paper provides an indepth statistical analysis of the temporal characteristics of urban sound environments, on the basis of a wide measurement campaign during 8 month, at 23 measurement stations in Paris, which cover a large variety of urban sound environments. The time series of sound levels were recorded continuously with a 125ms-time resolution, from which LA50,1h values were extracted. In total, 72 time-slots of interest are defined (24 1h-periods covering all days of the week). The statistical analysis determines for each station the Daily Average Noise Pattern (DANP), and for each of the 72 time-slots the 1h-Generalized Extreme Values distributions. The Generalized Extreme Values distributions are found to outperform the normal distributions to model the LA50,1h distributions. In addition, the average sound level differences between these 72 1h-time periods are calculated along with their variability, resulting in 72*72 delta matrices that describe the temporal relations between sound levels. This database is then used to develop two models, which aim to estimate DANP based on a limited amount of measurements. The model M1 relies on the delta matrices, whereas the model M2 consists of a weighted average of the DANP that are stored in the database in which the weights are based upon measures of similarity between the stations. Both models rely on probability density functions, and provide a measure for the reliability of the estimated noise levels. A test of both modelling approaches through simulated measurements shows that the model M1 seems to be more robust in case measurements are inaccurate. Beyond these two models, the proposed database could serve in the development of further models that aim to estimate sound levels based on a limited amount of measurements.

This work introduces an approach for calculating dynamic noise maps on the basis of fixed as well as mobile sound measurements. The proposed approach extends the temporal and spatial resolution of the traditional noise map that is based on long-term equivalent levels, and is therefore well suited for the prediction of indicators that are more closely related to the perception of the acoustic quality of the urban environment. The approach uses a model based interpolation technique, and accounts for the presence of sources that are generally not considered in noise maps. On the one hand, data from fixed noise measurement stations is used to continuously adapt the parameters underlying the map to temporal changes due to variations in source strength and propagation conditions. On the other hand, data from mobile noise measurements is used to increase the spatial resolution of the map. As an illustration of this approach, the construction of a dynamic map of the 13th district of Paris i...

Relying on monitoring networks to compute or improve noise maps is an increasingly used approach. To be able to use this approach to provide adequate temporal treatments, a good understanding of the temporal variations within urban sound level time series is required. This paper provides an indepth statistical analysis of the temporal characteristics of urban sound environments, on the basis of a wide measurement campaign during 8 month, at 23 measurement stations in Paris, which cover a large variety of urban sound environments. The time series of sound levels were recorded continuously with a 125ms-time resolution, from which LA50,1h values were extracted. In total, 72 time-slots of interest are defined (24 1h-periods covering all days of the week). The statistical analysis determines for each station the Daily Average Noise Pattern (DANP), and for each of the 72 time-slots the 1h-Generalized Extreme Values distributions. The Generalized Extreme Values distributions are found to outperform the normal distributions to model the LA50,1h distributions. In addition, the average sound level differences between these 72 1h-time periods are calculated along with their variability, resulting in 72*72 delta matrices that describe the temporal relations between sound levels. This database is then used to develop two models, which aim to estimate DANP based on a limited amount of measurements. The model M1 relies on the delta matrices, whereas the model M2 consists of a weighted average of the DANP that are stored in the database in which the weights are based upon measures of similarity between the stations. Both models rely on probability density functions, and provide a measure for the reliability of the estimated noise levels. A test of both modelling approaches through simulated measurements shows that the model M1 seems to be more robust in case measurements are inaccurate. Beyond these two models, the proposed database could serve in the development of further models that aim to estimate sound levels based on a limited amount of measurements.

Lately it has been necessary to adopt new metrics to deal with the zoning of airport noise in many countries in the world. Brazil changed from an IPR definition to a different one based on LDN. In the Europe Union the old metrics have been abandoned and substituted by the LDEN metric. In order to apply this changes it is necessary to redefine the noise levels used to establish the noise areas on airport zoning. The search for this correspondence between levels associated to certain metrics is a general matter and may be approached in many different ways. A first approach would consist on determining the values from two different metrics on the same location in the same time. It is easy to verify that the relation between both metrics in different locations is not the same. In addition one may establish an approach based on the comparison between areas affected by a certain noise level. In this work different simulations based on the INM software were carried through and two differen...

Digital noise maps produced according to the European Environmental Noise Directive (END) could provide valuable exposure information in noise and health research. However, their usefulness in epidemiological studies has not been evaluated. The objective of this study was to apply and evaluate Swedish END maps for assessments of residential traffic noise exposure. END maps from three Swedish cities were used to assess residential traffic noise exposure for a population sample of 2496 men and women included in a national Environmental Health Survey. For each subject, we assessed noise levels manually and automatically at three geographical points, using survey data to locate dwellings within buildings. Cohen's kappa coefficient (k) was used to assess agreement between the noise estimates. To evaluate the maps, we compared the observed and predicted proportions of annoyed residents as a function of noise exposure using survey data and already established exposure--response relationships. The root mean square deviation (r.m.s.) was used to assess the precision of observed estimates. The agreement between the noise estimates ranged from k ¼ 0.4 to 0.8. Generally, there was a high correspondence between observed and predicted exposure--response relationships for noise annoyance, regardless of method and if data on dwelling location within building were used. The best precision was, however, found when we manually corrected the noise level according to the location of the dwelling within buildings (r.m.s. ¼ 0.029). Noise maps based on the END appear useful for assessing residential traffic noise exposure, particularly if combined with survey data on dwelling location.

In order to know and determine the degree of noise pollution experienced by the population of the Coishco district, the noise generating sources and their respective sound pressure levels were evaluated. 10 measurement stations were considered, and the zoning was carried out in accordance with the guidelines of the Environmental Quality Standard (ECA) of the D.S. 085-2003-PCM, as follows: Residential, Commercial, Special Protection. Likewise, mobile sources of noise were identified in 8 measurement stations, these were heavy vehicle traffic (trucks, trailers, buses) and light vehicles (vans, cars, motorcycle taxis). In the same way, fixed sources were identified in 2 measurement stations where discos, bars, restaurants, hostels, and markets stand out. It was recorded in the residential zone (74,4 -73,9 dBA), commercial zone (72,1 -73,8 dBA), special protection zone (72,4 -72,2 dBA) and a vehicular frequency of ( 3200 -1410), (2454 -1202), (2376 -1233), during the day and night hours respectively, concluding that the noise levels exceed the values recommended by the ECA, and that the areas with the highest sound pressure level continuous equivalent (LAeqT), are in direct relation with the noise generating sources shown in the environmental noise map. Finally, an action plan is recommended for its control, prevention and correction in order to be able to impose sanctions on those establishments that do not comply with environmental regulations, in addition to facilitating the exchange of information with public transport companies, raising awareness about the effects harmful effects of misuse of horns on health.

Transverse rumble strips (TRS) are commonly used as traffic calming measure in the vicinity of premises. So far research have been extensively concentrated on the effect of vehicle type and speed on the noise produced by TRS, and very little research focused on the effect of vehicle weight.  Do these vehicles produce extremely higher sound level parallel to their heavier weight? This is important as in reality, traffic flow consist of light, medium and heavy vehicles, which are also important sources of noise. This study investigated the effect of vehicle weight, such as gross vehicle weight (GVW) when transited on TRS, particularly with emphasis on impulsivity content. The objectives of this research were to: (1) determine the effect of GVW on noise generation when a vehicle transits on TRS and (2) assess the effect of GVW on the impulsivity of noise. Data from vehicles with weight between 800 kg - 8000 kg were collected based on previous research where these vehicles were tested o...

This paper reports on research examining the extent of noise annoyance affecting residents within the vicinity of installation of two types of transverse rumble strips (TRS), namely Middle Overlapped (MO) and Multilayer Overlapping (MLO). In order to assess the noise annoyance in the area, measurements were taken at 7.5m from centre of road with TRS installation using single vehicle test to determine the extent of changes of sound level indices and sound spectrum. Two light and two medium weight commercial vehicles were used. Indicators LAeq, LAFmax, LAImax, LAIeq, and LASmax were used to determine impulsivity that led to noise annoyance. The results showed that, at 30 km/h, all commercial vehicles considered in this study that transited on MO produced impulsive noise, while only light commercial vehicles caused noise annoyance when they transited on MLO. The research also analysed the extent of low-frequency noise and found a significant low-frequency component, which indicated tha...

Environmental noise problems have increased every year and have brought negative effects to the neighbouring communities. Educational areas, such as university, college and school, are the places for learning and gaining knowledge. However, students feel stressed and annoyed when they are exposed to noisy environments. The main objective of this research is to investigate the current environmental noise problem in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). It is a preliminary study of environmental noise problem and a total of 24 measurement locations were selected based on the working zones in UTM. Each location was measured in an hour during the working period. About 95.8 percent of the measurement results exceeded the permissible limit of the guideline by the Department of Environment (DOE). Besides, the UTM noise zones have been established by referring to the measurement results. The findings of this study could assist the UTM management in deciding the noise abatement strategy. Also...

Context-awareness is essential to the development of adaptive information systems. Much work has been done on developing technologies and systems that are aware of absolute location in space and time; other aspects of context have been relatively neglected. We describe our approach to automatically sensing and recognising environmental noise as a contextual cue for context-aware applications. Environmental noise provides much valuable information about a user's current context. This paper describes an approach to classifying the noise context in the typical environments of our daily life, such as the office, car and city street. In this paper we present our hidden Markov model based noise classifier. We describe the architecture of our system, the experimental results, and discuss the open issues in environmental noise classification for mobile computing.

This research investigates the phenomenon of perception of people about industrial noise pollution and its effects on human health. Thirty-six (36) industries were selected for estimation of noise levels and its effects on human health. Concurrently, samples of one hundred and fifty (150) respondents were also taken from nearby residential area, using random sampling method. The key tool of data collection was well-structured questionnaires consisting of twentyone questions. Chi-Square test was used for examination of data, which illustrated effects of industrial noise on people living in industrial zone. The noise level results indicated that the mean values were exceeding permissible environmental standard used in Pakistan. Majority of respondents (50.6 %) were conscious about the basic reason of noise pollution in study area. Eighty-two percent (82%) people have opinion that old technology was the basic cause for noise pollution. It was shocking to see the results which indicate that 99.8% people are suffering from noise related diseases. This include 81.3% with increase anger, 81.5% with ear ache, 16% with ear discharge, 79.3% with high blood pressure, 78% with depression, 77.3% temporary hearing loss, 9.3% permanent hearing loss. Only 23.3% of people conduct regular hearing test.

The main purpose of this study was to analyze and evaluate the impacts of industrial noise pollution onhearing of workers in Gujranwala. Noise pollution levels were measured at fifty locations with the help of sound levelmeter, which was placed at a height above 1.2 meters from the ground. Two hundred workers were interviewed throughquestionnaire method. Different statistical tests correlation and chi-square were applied to analyze the noise pollutionlevel in Gujranwala city. Impacts of industrial noise pollution on hearing of workers were shown in different mapsusing interpolation and buffers. The present study concluded that noise pollution levels were exceeding the WHOpermissible limit of noise pollution at all sample locations. Workers of factories were suffering from annoyance,hypertension, irritation, interference with speech communication and sleep disturbance. Thus, it is necessary to possessa hearing discussion program in factories. One of its main parts is education to rai...

People are increasingly exposed to environmental noise through the cumulation of occupational and recreational activities, which is considered harmless to the auditory system, if the sound intensity remains &lt;80 dB. However, recent evidence of noise-induced peripheral synaptic damage and central reorganizations in the auditory cortex, despite normal audiometry results, has cast doubt on the innocuousness of lifetime exposure to environmental noise. We addressed this issue by exposing adult rats to realistic and nontraumatic environmental noise, within the daily permissible noise exposure limit for humans (80 dB sound pressure level, 8 h/day) for between 3 and 18 months. We found that temporary hearing loss could be detected after 6 months of daily exposure, without leading to permanent hearing loss or to missing synaptic ribbons in cochlear hair cells. The degraded temporal representation of sounds in the auditory cortex after 18 months of exposure was very different from the effe...

There is plenty of proof that environmental noise is a major pollutant in the urban environment. Several approaches were successfully applied for its calculation, visualization, prediction and mitigation. The goal of all strategy plans regards its reduction and the creation of quietness. This study aims to revisit the concept of quietness in the urban environment and attempts to portray a new understanding of the specific phenomena. “Quietness” as a term retains an ambiguity, and so far, it can be described as the lack of something, meaning the lack of noise that is portrayed by means of intensity. Several studies describe quietness as the combination of perceptual soundscape elements and contextual factors that can be quantified, combined, weighed and used as indicators of healthy soundscapes. In this research, the focus is on setting aside all indicators, either measuring the intensity or contextual ones and use solely quantifiable metrics regarding the acoustic environment, thus ...

Quietness exists in places without human induced noise sources and could offer multiple benefits to citizens. Unlit areas are sites free of human intense interference at night time. The aim of this research is to develop an integrated environmental index of noise and light pollution. In order to achieve this goal the spatial pattern of quietness and darkness of Europe was identified, as well as their overlap. The environmental index revealed that the spatial patterns of Quiet and Unlit Areas differ to a great extent highlighting the importance of preserving quietness as well as darkness in EU. The spatial overlap of these two environmental characteristics covers 32.06% of EU surface area, which could be considered a feasible threshold for protection. This diurnal and nocturnal metric of environmental quality accompanied with all direct and indirect benefits to human well-being could indicate a target for environmental protection in the EU policy and practices.

Soundscape research has been gaining prominence in studies on the built environment. The soundscape concept is defined as the acoustic environment as perceived and/or understood by a person in context. Compared with traditional building acoustics, the soundscape concept brings interesting perspectives—but also challenges—for undergraduate architectural curricula, where it tries to strike a balance between qualitative and quantitative methodologies, a theoretical approach that in the context of soundscape studies it is often referred to as ‘triangulation’. Starting from real-world higher education courses, the aim of this paper is to examine how the soundscape approach can be integrated into teaching building acoustics at the undergraduate level in architectural courses. Methods such as soundwalks, acoustic measurements, and computational simulations that are commonly used in soundscape research are introduced in educational projects as tools for students to experience, analyse, and ...

Noise annoyance has been often reported as one of the main adverse effects of noise exposure on human health, and there is consensus that it relates to several factors going beyond the mere energy content of the signal. Research has historically focused on a limited set of sound sources (e.g., transport and industrial noise); only more recently is attention being given to more holistic aspects of urban acoustic environments and the role they play in the noise annoyance perceptual construct. This is the main approach promoted in soundscape studies, looking at both wanted and unwanted sounds. In this study, three specific aspects were investigated, namely: (1) the effect of different sound sources combinations, (2) the number of sound sources present in the soundscape, and (3) the presence of individual sound source, on noise annoyance perception. For this purpose, a large-scale online experiment was carried out with 1.2k+ participants, using 2.8k+ audio recordings of complex urban ac...

The indoor-outdoor connection provided by ventilation openings has been so far a limiting factor in the use of natural ventilation (NV), due to the apparent conflict between ventilation needs and the intrusion of external noise. This limiting factor impedes naturally ventilated buildings meeting the acoustic criteria set by standards and rating protocols, which are reviewed in this paper for residential buildings. The criteria reflect a general effort to minimize noise annoyance by reducing indoor sound levels, typically without a distinction based on a ventilation strategy. Research has developed a number of solutions, discussed here, that try to guarantee ventilation without compromising façade noise insulation, but, currently, none have been adopted on a large scale. This concept paper highlights the main limits of the current approach. First, a fragmented view towards indoor environmental quality has not included consideration of the following acoustic criteria: (i) how building...

Over the years, different noise sources related to community noise and their potential for eliciting noise annoyance have been investigated. Despite being a very common source within the urban realm, there is a current lack of literature on the perception of noise produced by small-medium sized sources like chillers and air conditioning devices. There are relatively few studies on the influence of audiovisual factors on noise perception for such sources. The main aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of the visibility of a chiller on perceived loudness and self-reported annoyance in a common indoor environment. Furthermore, this research aimed to investigate whether the abovementioned effects persisted in the presence of a cognitive task. To this purpose, two laboratory experiments were performed by means of an immersive virtual reality (IVR) system. Results show that the distance of the chiller influenced the noise perception, while the visibility of the chiller itself...

Noise pollution (or environmental noise) refers to unwanted or unpleasant sound that disrupts the activity or balance of human and animal life. It reduces the concentration and negatively affects the mental activity. The noise is generated by the human through various ways and activities. Noise must be controlled and prevented by using various effective techniques at the source itself is today's need. This review basically discuss the various sources of noise pollution, measurement of noise, dB scale, equipments used in the measurement of noise levels, adverse effects of noise pollution on health, control of indoor noise, control technologies available for noise pollution and Indian penal codes to prevent noise pollution are the main points of focus of attention.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the noise generated by aeronautical operations around Juan Santamaría Airport and its compatibility with the land use and the proposed zoning around the airport. Aircraft noise can produce discomfort, interference with daily activities, and excessive vibrations; hence, land use planning around airports is of importance. Maps were prepared through computational models representing the noise levels generated by the operations of the airport. The operations were analyzed by aircraft type, schedules, and flight tracks for 2013 and projections for 2016, 2026, and 2036. Noise level data were collected with a sound level meter at 28 points surrounding the airport. Comparing the annual maps of 2013 and 2036, it was determined that 41,24 % of the analyzed area will present clear perceivable increases (5 dB to 10 dB), and 1,36 % of the area will have double loudness increases (10 dB to 14 dB). The 2016 maps show locations where it is recommended to incorporate solutions in the construction regulation that reduce noise between 25 dB and 30 dB in the residential and scholar areas located within 65 dB and 70 dB, such as Coco, Rincón Monge, Rincón Herrera, and Bajo Sorda. This finding is supported by field measurements. The proposed zoning was contrasted against the yearly day-night average sound level of 2036. The biggest issue of excessive aircraft noise is located near the west runway where a range above the 75 dB is expected. Any edification of permanent residence here must be banned.

Qual é a importância do som nas nossas vidas? Pode mudar a percepção de um lugar, localizar-nos, alterar o que sentimos e a experiência que vivemos?

Da mesma forma que investigamos, procuramos, estudamos, catalogamos, arquivamos e exibimos documentos, objetos, arte, etc. a que chamamos de patrimônio. Poderá o som ser investigado, gravado, estudado, catalogado, arquivado e exibido?

Convido a uma reflexão sobre a razão do som poder e dever ser considerado um patrimônio e, nesse sentido, podermos torná-lo um “objeto” a ser preservado e, inclusive, um objeto museológico.

Mas não limitemos o som a uma pequena parte dele a que chamamos música, consideremos o som em toda a sua vastidão e plenitude.

What is the importance of sound in our lives? Can it change the perception of a place, locate us, alter what we feel, and the experience we live?

In the same way that we investigate, search, study, catalogue, archive, and exhibit documents, objects, art, etc. that we call heritage. Can sound be investigated, recorded, studied, catalogued, archived, and exhibited?

I invite you to reflect on why sound can and should be considered a heritage, and, in this sense, we can make it an "object" to be preserved and even a museological object.

But let us not limit sound to a small part of it, which we call music; let us consider sound in all its vastness and fullness.

Fur seal populations in the Southern Hemisphere were plundered in the late 1700s and early 1800s to provide fur for a clothing industry. Millions of seals were killed resulting in potentially major ecosystem changes across the Southern Hemisphere, the consequences of which are unknown today. Following more than a century of population suppression, partly through on-going harvesting, many of the fur seal populations started to recover in the late 1900s. Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus), one of the most geographically constrained fur seal species, followed this trend. From the 1940s to 1986, pup production remained at approximately 10,000 per year, then significant growth commenced. By 2007, live pup abundance had recovered to approximately 21,400 per year and recovery was expected to continue However, a species-wide survey in 2013 recorded a 20% decline, to approximately 16,500 live pups. It was not known if this decline was due to 2013 being a poor breeding ye...

Teachers often report voice problems related to the occupational environment, and voice problems are more prevalent in teaching than in other occupations. Relationships between objectively measurable acoustical parameters and voice use have been shown. Speakers have been shown to be able to predict the speaker-comfort of an environment. Teachers with voice problems use the room differently than their voice-healthy controls. The aim of this study was to investigate what vocal changes speakers do in different acoustical environments and noise conditions. Nine female speakers, voice patients, and voice-healthy were exposed to four controlled, acoustical “environments” mounted in the same room: 1. stripped; 2. wall- and ceiling mounted absorbents; 3-4 as 2 but with extra ceiling absorbents and in two positions. The speakers were recorded with voice-accumulator and simultaneous voice recordings and spoke freely for 3-5 min in three noise conditions in each setting: silence, classroom noi...

Reducing environmental noise in urban settings, i.e., unwanted or harmful outdoor sounds produced by human activity, has become an important issue in recent years. Most countries have established regulations that set maximum permitted noise levels. However, enforcing these regulations effectively remains challenging as it requires active monitoring networks and audio analysis performed by trained specialists. The manual evaluation of the audio recordings is laborious, time-consuming, and inefficient since many audios exceeding the noise level threshold do not correspond to a sound event considered by the regulation. To address this challenge, this work proposes a computational pipeline to assist specialists in detecting noise sources in the built environment that do not comply with the Chilean noise regulation. The system incorporates a deep neural model following a pre-trained audio neural network architecture transferred to a dataset compiled from public sources and recordings in ...

Traffic noise can be classified among the worst factors in terms of damage to people's health and wellbeing. The trend of noise pollution modeling variable from the smart result of classic regressive models in the performance of many assessment models based on mathematical expressions, genetic algorithms and neural networks (of GRNN type, General Regression Neural Network). A methodological approach for the quantitative analysis of traffic noise in urban settings was proposed in the study. We present an analysis of the acoustic data measured in the city of Villa S. Giovanni (Italy), simultaneous measurement is of noise levels and vehicle flow and composition were done. Different prediction models were compared and a classification for the best assessment tool in the analysis of the equivalent level of noise Leq was given. The results show how the neural network approach provides better performance than the classical solution based on statistical analyses. The GRNN network is best suited to the simulation of the phenomenon seems and for the application in more complex areas, with greater variability in the traffic patterns, such as the case considered.

Objetivo: Analisar os estudos sobre o ruído como poluição ambiental nos centros urbanos, com foco em suas fontes e os níveis sonoros na tentativa de entender se modelo urbano atual é adequado para a saúde individual e coletiva. Material e Métodos: BVS, Pubmed e Cochrane foram usados para pesquisar artigos originais de pesquisa relacionados com o ruído ambiente. Resultados: Este artigo de revisão analisa 19 estudos relacionados ao ruído como um poluente ambiental. Conclusão: Muitos estudos estão sendo conduzidos para quantificar o ruído urbano e seu potencial de perturbação causada na população, utilizando-se diferentes metodologias. Nosso trabalho demonstra que o ruído está presente no ambiente urbano e geralmente extrapola os atuais níveis tolerados pela lei, sendo um estressor em potencial. Portanto, a sua presença em várias atividades humanas, especialmente no trânsito, reflete um modelo de cidade atual que precisa ser repensado.Os resultados deste estudo podem ser úteis para o d...

Noise annoyance has been often reported as one of the main adverse effects of noise exposure on human health, and there is consensus that it relates to several factors going beyond the mere energy content of the signal. Research has historically focused on a limited set of sound sources (e.g., transport and industrial noise); only more recently is attention being given to more holistic aspects of urban acoustic environments and the role they play in the noise annoyance perceptual construct. This is the main approach promoted in soundscape studies, looking at both wanted and unwanted sounds. In this study, three specific aspects were investigated, namely: (1) the effect of different sound sources combinations, (2) the number of sound sources present in the soundscape, and (3) the presence of individual sound source, on noise annoyance perception. For this purpose, a large-scale online experiment was carried out with 1.2k+ participants, using 2.8k+ audio recordings of complex urban ac...

The environmental housing conditions of laboratory animals are important for both welfare and reliable, reproducible data. Guidelines currently exist for factors such as lighting cycles, temperature, humidity, and noise, however, for the latter the current guidelines may overlook important details. In the case of the most common laboratory species, the mouse, the range of frequencies they can hear is far higher than that of humans. The current guidelines briefly mention that ultrasonic (>20 kHz) frequencies can adversely affect mice, and that the acoustic environment should be checked, though no recommendations are provided relating to acceptable levels of ultrasonic noise. Methods: To investigate the ultrasonic environment in a large mouse breeding facility (the Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell), we compared two systems, the Hottinger Bruel and Kjaer PULSE sound analyser, and an Avisoft Bioacoustics system. Potential noise sources were selected; we used the PULSE system to undertake real-time Fourier analysis of noise up to 100 kHz, and the Avisoft system to record noise up to 125 kHz for later analysis. The microphones from both systems were positioned consistently at the same distance from the source and environmental conditions were identical. In order to investigate our result further, a third system, the AudioMoth (Open Acoustic Devices), was also used for recording. We used DeepSqueak software for most of the recording analysis and, in some cases, we also undertook further spectral analysis using RX8 (iZotope, USA). Results: We found that both systems can detect a range of ultrasonic noise sources, and here discuss the benefits and limitations of each approach. Conclusions: We conclude that measuring the acoustic environment of animal facilities, including ultrasonic frequencies that may adversely affect the animals housed, will contribute to minimising disruption to animal welfare and perturbations in scientific research. Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article.

Background: The environmental housing conditions of laboratory animals are important for both welfare and reliable, reproducible data. Guidelines currently exist for factors such as lighting cycles, temperature, humidity, and noise, however, for the latter the current guidelines may overlook important details. In the case of the most common laboratory species, the mouse, the range of frequencies they can hear is far higher than that of humans. The current guidelines briefly mention that ultrasonic (&gt;20 kHz) frequencies can adversely affect mice, and that the acoustic environment should be checked, though no recommendations are provided relating to acceptable levels of ultrasonic noise. Methods: To investigate the ultrasonic environment in a large mouse breeding facility (the Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell), we compared two systems, the Hottinger Bruel and Kjaer PULSE sound analyser, and an Avisoft Bioacoustics system. Potential noise sources were selected; we used the PULSE syst...

Introducción. El ruido es considerado como uno de los contaminantes de alto nivel que afecta de manera negativa la calidad de vida de las personas que viven en los centros urbanos y la de los ecosistemas. Objetivos. Consolidar diferentes estrategias integrales de Gestión Ambiental de Ruido en el Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburra; administrar dos estaciones fijas de calidad acústica y divulgar la importancia de los mapas de ruido. Materiales y Métodos. Se llevaron a cabo diferentes estrategias como: divulgación, capacitación y jornadas académicas en los diferentes municipios que conforman el Área Metropolitana. Resultados. Más de un 60% de la comunidad identifica el tráfico rodado como el principal problema y cómo un 85% de los funcionarios que asistieron a las capacitaciones desconoce de la existencia de los mapas de ruido. Conclusión. Es necesaria la consolidación de estrategias de sensibilización ante el problema de ruido y apropiar a los diferentes integrantes de las Administraciones municipales del conocimiento e información que existe en los mapas de ruido. Palabras clave: ruido, Gestión del ruido, INM( Integrated Noise Model), mapas de ruido, monitoreo del ruido. La gestión del ruido urbano tiene como propósito el diseño de medidas encaminadas a su control y reducción, basándose en tres pilares fundamentales: la legislación, la prevención y el control; el éxito de esta gestión depende de la forma en que estos tres componentes se relacionen 1 . Dado que el ruido es considerado por la mayoría de las personas de los grandes centros urbanos como uno de los contaminantes de alto nivel que afecta de manera negativa su calidad de vida y la de los ecosistemas, a escala mundial se han tomado una serie de acciones con el fin de mantener los niveles de ruido dentro de unos rangos tales que no perjudiquen la salud y el bienestar de las poblaciones.