Living with urban sounds: Understanding the effects of human mobilities on individual sound exposure and psychological health

Abstract

People’s exposure to high levels of sound leads to psychological annoyance and stress. This study seeks to understand and conceptualize how human daily mobilities influence urban residents’ sound exposure and psychological health involving annoyance and stress in their everyday lives. Human daily mobilities are understood as people’s daily movement patterns and potentials for movements. Using a mixed-method approach, data were collected from 32 participants in a mixed-housing community in suburban Beijing in China. Each participant carried a portable sound sensor and a GPS tracker and recorded activity-travel diaries for a weekday and a weekend day to track their daily space–time trajectories, measured sound levels, and details of each daily activity and trip. Further, in-depth interviews were conducted to understand participants’ perceptions of urban sounds and psychological health during their daily movements. Geo-narrative analysis was used to integrate these multiple data sources and gain an in-depth understanding of participants’ daily mobilities, individual sound exposures, and perceptions of sound and psychological health. This exploratory study finds that urban residents are exposed to different sound levels and sources in multiple urban geographic contexts in the course of their day. Further, this study identifies how socially vulnerable and susceptible residents encounter difficulties in escaping from high levels of sound in different urban contexts due to their space–time constraints. This study not only enriches the knowledge of how human daily mobilities can influence individual-based sound exposure and psychological health. It also highlights the need to provide better sonic environments for socially vulnerable and susceptible groups in cities.