Smartphone Sensing and Identification of Shock Noise and Vibration Induced by Gym Activities

Abstract

Fitness culture has significantly grown since the nineteenth century. In the recent decade, the gym and fitness industry have thrived in many countries. The construction of gymnasiums has increased dramatically, and fitness centres have become one of the most common spaces in mix-used buildings around the world. There are a significant number of gyms located relatively close to residential areas, some of which have even proposed to operate 24 h a day. The noise and vibration generated by dropping free weights in the gym affect the user experience and the surrounding community to a certain extent. In addition, today’s gyms are frequently operated out of refurbished retail units. Most refurbished unit buildings’ structures were never designed to host a gym, which makes the mitigation of noise and vibration very difficult. Based on critical literature reviews, the use of gymnasiums flooring system is relatively straightforward to mitigate the noise and vibration, but its effectiveness is hardly monitored. This study mainly discusses the use of material for mitigating noise and vibration in the gymnasiums together with the crowd sensing evaluation of vibration effectiveness, uncertainty and material deterioration to manage appropriate level of noise and vibration. The gym at the University of Birmingham has been chosen as a case study. Over 10 h of field tests have been conducted to record data of the operating floor material in the gym and fitness centre using novel smartphone sensors. Considering the specific floor material, a strategy of reducing noise and vibration is proposed. In addition, health and safety assessments are also carried out to evaluate the public safety condition in the gym. The insight into novel crowdsourcing smartphone sensors can help end-users to monitor the environmental impacts around the gyms and surroundings in real time.