Variations in sound environment in an urban apartment building: A case study during and after the COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract

Quiet communities, which are encouraged to maintain a harmonious and tranquil urban living environment, have attracted increasing attention in designing method in recent years. The relevant residential standards specify quiet thresholds with regard to noise pollution issues. However, the variation in height across floors of high-rise buildings and variation with time in sound environments have not been examined in detail. The city of Shanghai experienced a city-wide lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19, showing evidence of quietness and a significant reduction in anthropogenic noise. Here, we conducted noise monitoring in a 14-storey apartment building that was surrounded and shielded by other buildings in a typical urban community during and after the lockdown. The mean value of all 14 floors of equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (LAeq,T) after lockdown was systematically greater than that during lockdown, with differences of 3.6 and 3.1 dB during the daytime and night-time periods, respectively. We suggest that in practice, it is useful to consider the specific floor or time of day.