Objective and perceived acoustic environments during the COVID-19 lockdown: An overview of evidence

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic took a heavy toll on population health directly, but also triggered profound changes to social life, daily mobility patterns, and activity spaces. At the beginning, public health measures for limiting the spread of the virus mandated home confinement and limited outdoor activities, which in turn reshaped typical acoustic environments for many people. Traffic noise levels reportedly declined across various settings, allowing for nature sounds, hitherto masked, to become more prominent. On the other hand, prolonged home confinement made indoor sounds, such as mechanical sounds, human voices, and noise generated by neighbors, even more relevant for the well-being of building occupants. This overview will provide a synopsis of the evidence of changes to residential noise exposure and perceived soundscape quality and components across different contexts, with implications for residents' well-being. The observed changes will be discussed through the lens of stress and restoration theories.