A low-cost noise measurement device for noise mapping based on mobile sampling

Abstract

For the production of representative noise maps, a large amount of information is necessary, which includes, among others, on-site measurements of environmental noise. Thus, mobile sampling emerges as a possible solution for the enhancement of data acquisition. The present paper proposes a low-cost noise monitoring device, in order to take georeferenced mobile measurements at each 1/3 octave band (63 Hz–10 kHz). The implementation and accuracy tests of the equipment are presented. It is found, under laboratory and field tests, that the device measurement values are around ±0.5 dB of those obtained with a Class 1 sound level meter for LAeq and around ±1 dB for 1/3 octave band. Furthermore, a set of mobile measurements taken suggest that it is actually possible to perform the mobile sampling, which would improve the spatiotemporal granularity of noise measurements without compromising the accuracy, although certain requirements should be fulfilled to ensure representativeness.