MEMs Based Low-Cost Urban Noise Monitoring: Tests and Case Study

Abstract

Noise pollution has been one of the main causes of citizens' discomfort in the urban centres in Brazil, an issue enhanced by the Covid pandemic that resulted in an increase of noise complaints, especially those related to noise from construction sites. This context triggered the construction industry to pursue solutions to understand the acoustic reality and minimise the impacts through regulations that require long-term noise measurements. Due to the necessity of a comprehensive evaluation in several locations, class 1 Sound Level Meters measurement systems can hardly be considered because of their high costs. This paper discusses the practical implementation of MEMs in a low-cost monitoring system for urban noise, focusing on construction sites. The prototype, based on a Raspberry Pi (a single-board computer model widely used in IoT projects) and a MEMs microphone with I²S interface for high-fidelity digital audio communication, was compared in a controlled environment to a Sound Level Meter of Class 1 through validation tests, such as calibration, frequency response, and dynamic range. Field measurements were also carried out in typical urban noise-generating sound environments.