COVID-19 related sound reduction. Soundscape changes during Peruvian de-escalation and “abnormal” opening

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has changed the worldwide way of life. In March 2020, Peru declared a State of Emergency and defined different phases to control the virus spreading, and as a result of the lockdown, Peruvian cities sound levels were reduced as never before imagined. The author installed a noise sensor before the pandemic on a rooftop to record the overflights sound levels, since the office building is in a residential area, which is near to the aircraft climbing curve towards the ocean on departure from Lima. The author published in JASA an article with the soundscape analysis of Lima, Peru, registered by the device between March through June 2020, so all soundscape changes have been measured as a consequence of flight suppression (due to the airport lockdown) and also because of a ban on traffic circulation in streets and curfew to reduce social distancing. In this paper, the author will analyze the sound levels registered from July through December 2020, which includes all de-escalation stages, the restart of non-essential activities and the partial opening of Lima international airport. The most important result of this survey is to have been able to measure the nighttime aircraft noise impact, in order to assess their noise annoyance, mainly from those which overflight at dawn that they are capable of producing sleep interruption.