Abstract
The implementation of the lockdown measures in Spain due to the COVID-19 has had a deep impact on the soundscape especially in urban environments. One of the most clear effects is the decrease of the urban noise levels observed by means of noise mapping techniques using Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks deployed in medium-size and big cities. This study pretends to reflect the variation of the noise levels in Girona, a 100.000 inhabitants city in the North-East of Catalonia (Spain). We have analyzed the LAeq levels in eight different locations of the city from January to June 2020, including all the lockdown period, comparing with all the available noise monitoring data from the previous years (2019, 2018 and 2017 if available). The results show a considerable decrease of the noise levels in the street during all the hard lockdown. This analysis is part of the project "Sons al Balcó", which aims to draw the soundscape of Catalonia during the lockdown. Future work will be focused on finding dependencies between the equivalent levels measured in the sensors and the questionnaires and videos received from all the contributors in Girona.
Highlights
IntroductionEnvironmental noise causes more than 48,000 new cases of ischemic heart disease and around
Environmental noise causes more than 48,000 new cases of ischemic heart disease and around12,000 deaths in Europe per year, as World Health Organisation (WHO) states in their latest report [1]
The results show a considerable decrease of the noise levels in the street during all the hard lockdown. This analysis is part of the project "Sons al Balcó", which aims to draw the soundscape of Catalonia during the lockdown
Summary
Environmental noise causes more than 48,000 new cases of ischemic heart disease and around. It generates chronic annoyance to more than 22 million people and chronic sleep problems to more than 6.5 million [2] Main focus of these works is on annoyance [3], and for this reason, the report presents the noise equivalent levels L Aeq values that should not be exceeded to protect citizens health. We analyze only the values collected by the sensors during the first six months of 2020, as well as 2019, and 2017 when available to compare the street L Aeq levels among the four years and to evaluate the progression of the soundscape during the different stages of the confinement Afterwards, this evaluation will be analyzed together with all the samples collected by ’Sons al Balcó’ in the city of Girona, to conclude whether the objective measurements improve the perceptual evaluation given by citizens
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