Environmental noise measurements at Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

Abstract

Assessing noise in national parks remains a subject of research and study for two general problem areas: the reaction to noise by park visitors and the effects of noise on wildlife. Traditional methods for environmental noise assessment such as methods to assess the effects of airport noise on residential communities are inappropriate and inadequate for the National Park issues, and Schomer and Stanley (2009) developed a research plan to gauge the sound quality of a hike, not annoyance. The goal of this research is to develop methods to assess the sound quality of different park soundscapes by being able to rate the acoustical experience of park visitors. This report concentrates on physical measurements of the acoustic environment. Our approach for the measurements was to select a trail that was used regularly, but not particularly heavily, that had regular, distinct anthropogenic noise, and that was readily accessible. This paper provides an analysis of the acoustical measurements. In particular, it provides an analysis of the data collected by the 20 fixed monitors, an analysis of the data collected by the mobile monitor, and an analysis of the GPS data used to establish the mobile monitor position as a function of time.