Noise Monitoring for Enhanced Living Environments Based on Internet of Things

Abstract

Environmental noise has a direct influence on human health and also on the quality of life. The environmental noise effects on health are not only related to annoyance, sleep and cognitive performance but can also be linked with raised blood pressure. Therefore, noise pollution must be seen as severe world public health challenge and should be monitored not only inside buildings, as people spend about 90% of our lives indoors, for enhanced occupational health but also in outside for enhanced living environments in smart cities. Noise real-time monitoring allows the detection of unhealthy situations and to notify the building or the city managers to take interventions to decrease the sound levels quickly. Considering the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and technologies, the iSound, a solution for real-time noise monitoring based on IoT has been developed. This solution is composed by a hardware prototype for ambient data collection and web portal for data consulting. The iSound is based on open-source technologies and is a totality Wi-Fi system, with several advantages compared to existing systems, such as its modularity, scalability, low-cost and easy installation.