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Challéat S, Farrugia N, Froidevaux JSP, Gasc A, Pajusco N. A dataset of acoustic measurements from soundscapes collected worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sci Data 2024; 11:928. [PMID: 39191783 PMCID: PMC11349881 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03611-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Political responses to the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in city soundscapes around the globe. From March to October 2020, a consortium of 261 contributors from 35 countries brought together by the Silent Cities project built a unique soundscape recordings collection to report on local acoustic changes in urban areas. We present this collection here, along with metadata including observational descriptions of the local areas from the contributors, open-source environmental data, open-source confinement levels and calculation of acoustic descriptors. We performed a technical validation of the dataset using statistical models run on a subset of manually annotated soundscapes. Results confirmed the large-scale usability of ecoacoustic indices and automatic sound event recognition in the Silent Cities soundscape collection. We expect this dataset to be useful for research in the multidisciplinary field of environmental sciences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Challéat
- UMR5602 GEODE (Géographie de l'environnement), CNRS, Université Toulouse 2 - Jean Jaurès, 31058, Toulouse, France.
| | - Nicolas Farrugia
- UMR6285 Lab-STICC (Laboratoire des Sciences et Techniques de l'information de la Communication et de la Connaissance), IMT Atlantique, CNRS, 29238, Brest, France.
| | - Jérémy S P Froidevaux
- University of Stirling, Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, FK9 4LA, Stirling, United Kingdom
- UMR7204 CESCO (Centre d'Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, 75005, Paris, France
- University of Bristol, School of Biological Sciences, Life Sciences Building, Bristol, BS8 1TQ, United Kingdom
| | - Amandine Gasc
- UMR7263 IMBE (Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie marine et continentale), Aix-Marseille Université, Avignon Université, CNRS, IRD, 13080, Aix-en-Provence, France
- Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
| | - Nicolas Pajusco
- UMR6285 Lab-STICC (Laboratoire des Sciences et Techniques de l'information de la Communication et de la Connaissance), IMT Atlantique, CNRS, 29238, Brest, France
- UMR6613 LAUM (Laboratoire d'Acoustique de l'Université du Mans), Institut d'Acoustique - Graduate School (IA-GS), CNRS, Le Mans Université, 72085, Le Mans, France
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Bonet-Solà D, Bergadà P, Dorca E, Martínez-Suquía C, Alsina-Pagès RM. Sons al Balcó: A Comparative Analysis of WASN-Based LAeq Measured Values with Perceptual Questionnaires in Barcelona during the COVID-19 Lockdown. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 24:1650. [PMID: 38475185 DOI: 10.3390/s24051650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 02/24/2024] [Accepted: 02/24/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
The mobility and activity restrictions imposed in Spain due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant improvement in the urban noise pollution that could be objectively measured in those cities with acoustic sensor networks deployed. This significant change in the urban soundscapes was also perceived by citizens who positively appraised this new acoustic scenario. In this work, authors present a comparative analysis between different noise indices provided by 70 sound sensors deployed in Barcelona, both during and before the lockdown, and the results of a perceptual test conducted in the framework of the project Sons al Balcó during the lockdown, which received more than one hundred contributions in Barcelona alone. The analysis has been performed by clustering the objective and subjective data according to the predominant noise sources in the location of the sensors and differentiating road traffic in heavy, moderate and low-traffic areas. The study brings out strong alignments between a decline in noise indices, acoustic satisfaction improvement and changes in the predominant noise sources, supporting the idea that objective calibrated data can be useful to make a qualitative approximation to the subjective perception of urban soundscapes when further information is not available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Bonet-Solà
- HER-Human-Environment Research, La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull, Sant Joan de la Salle, 42, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Pau Bergadà
- HER-Human-Environment Research, La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull, Sant Joan de la Salle, 42, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Enric Dorca
- HER-Human-Environment Research, La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull, Sant Joan de la Salle, 42, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Carme Martínez-Suquía
- HER-Human-Environment Research, La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull, Sant Joan de la Salle, 42, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès
- HER-Human-Environment Research, La Salle-Universitat Ramon Llull, Sant Joan de la Salle, 42, 08022 Barcelona, Spain
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Abstract
The ISO 12913 standards acknowledge the primacy of context in perceiving acoustic environments. In soundscape assessments, context is constituted by both physical surroundings and psychological, social, and cultural factors. Previous studies have revealed similarities in people’s soundscape assessments in comparable physical surroundings, such as urban or national parks, despite differing individual associative contexts. However, these assessments were found to be capable of shifting in the historic setting of the Berlin Wall Memorial. Providing contextual information from the past appears to have some bearing on soundscape perception. The COVID-19 lockdown measures enacted since March 2020 in Germany have prevented most tourist activity at the memorial, and a resulting shift in user activity has been observed in the otherwise open and accessible memorial landscape. Building on previous soundscape investigations conducted at the memorial, this paper investigates what effect the restrictions have had on the soundscape context and its perception by visitors. Informal interviews paired with comparative measurements indicated context pliability for local stakeholders. In contrast to site programming alone, tourist presence also appears to affect context perception for local users. This holds repercussions for soundscape and heritage site designs serving local and tourist populations—and their divergent perceptions—alike. The impacts of soundscape assessments being neither static nor generalizable across stakeholders are discussed with suggestions for further research.
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Perspectives on the Sonic Environment and Noise Mitigations during the COVID-19 Pandemic Era. ACOUSTICS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/acoustics3030033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The pandemic has impacted every facet of our life, society, and environment. It has also affected both the requirement and challenges for acoustic research and applications. The present article attempts to present a summary of the impact of COVID-19 on several aspects of acoustics, from the changes in the sonic environment due to reduced human and industrial activities to natural ventilation requirements for mitigating the transmission of coronavirus while mitigating noise, and, more importantly, discusses the potential impacts and challenges for acoustics in the post-COVID-19 era. The present study specifically examines the effects of COVID-19 on the sonic environment, the acoustic treatment by considering the need for constant disinfection, the noise control on construction and neighborhood activities in response to an increased number of people working from home, and the need for having natural ventilation while mitigating noise at home and offices.
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Dzhambov AM, Lercher P, Stoyanov D, Petrova N, Novakov S, Dimitrova DD. University Students' Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:2538. [PMID: 33806377 PMCID: PMC7967325 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18052538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Online education became mandatory for many students during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and blurred the distinction between settings where processes of stress and restoration used to take place. The lockdown also likely changed perceptions of the indoor acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and raised its importance. In the present study, we seek to understand how indoor soundscape related to university students' self-rated health in Bulgaria around the time that the country was under a state of emergency declaration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS Between 17 May and 10 June 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 323 students (median age 21 years; 31% male) from two universities in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Self-rated health (SRH) was measured with a single-item. Participants were asked how frequently they heard different types of sounds while at home and how pleasant they considered each of those sounds to be. Restorative quality of the home (the "being away" dimension of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale) was measured with a single-item. A priori confounders and effect modifiers included sociodemographics, house-related characteristics, general sensitivity to environmental influences, and mental health. Our analysis strategy involved sequential exploratory factor analysis (EFA), multivariate linear and ordinal regressions, effect modification tests, and structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS EFA supported grouping perceived sounds into three distinct factors-mechanical, human, and nature sounds. Regression analyses revealed that greater exposure to mechanical sounds was consistently associated with worse SRH, whereas no significant associations were found for human and nature sounds. In SEM, exposure to mechanical sounds related to lower restorative quality of the home, and then to poorer SRH, whereas nature sounds correlated with higher restorative quality, and in turn with better SRH. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest a role of positive indoor soundscape and restorative quality for promoting self-rated health in times of social distancing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angel M. Dzhambov
- Department of Hygiene, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
| | - Peter Lercher
- Institute for Highway Engineering and Transport Planning, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria;
| | - Drozdstoy Stoyanov
- Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria;
- Research Institute at Medical University—Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
| | - Nadezhda Petrova
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria; (N.P.); (S.N.)
| | - Stoyan Novakov
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria; (N.P.); (S.N.)
| | - Donka D. Dimitrova
- Department of Health Management and Healthcare Economics, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria;
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Dzhambov AM, Lercher P, Stoyanov D, Petrova N, Novakov S, Dimitrova DD. University Students' Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph18052538. [PMID: 33806377 DOI: 10.3390/20ijerph18052538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 02/26/2021] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Online education became mandatory for many students during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and blurred the distinction between settings where processes of stress and restoration used to take place. The lockdown also likely changed perceptions of the indoor acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and raised its importance. In the present study, we seek to understand how indoor soundscape related to university students' self-rated health in Bulgaria around the time that the country was under a state of emergency declaration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS Between 17 May and 10 June 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 323 students (median age 21 years; 31% male) from two universities in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Self-rated health (SRH) was measured with a single-item. Participants were asked how frequently they heard different types of sounds while at home and how pleasant they considered each of those sounds to be. Restorative quality of the home (the "being away" dimension of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale) was measured with a single-item. A priori confounders and effect modifiers included sociodemographics, house-related characteristics, general sensitivity to environmental influences, and mental health. Our analysis strategy involved sequential exploratory factor analysis (EFA), multivariate linear and ordinal regressions, effect modification tests, and structural equation modeling (SEM). RESULTS EFA supported grouping perceived sounds into three distinct factors-mechanical, human, and nature sounds. Regression analyses revealed that greater exposure to mechanical sounds was consistently associated with worse SRH, whereas no significant associations were found for human and nature sounds. In SEM, exposure to mechanical sounds related to lower restorative quality of the home, and then to poorer SRH, whereas nature sounds correlated with higher restorative quality, and in turn with better SRH. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest a role of positive indoor soundscape and restorative quality for promoting self-rated health in times of social distancing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angel M Dzhambov
- Department of Hygiene, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
| | - Peter Lercher
- Institute for Highway Engineering and Transport Planning, Graz University of Technology, 8010 Graz, Austria
| | - Drozdstoy Stoyanov
- Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- Research Institute at Medical University-Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
| | - Nadezhda Petrova
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
| | - Stoyan Novakov
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
| | - Donka D Dimitrova
- Department of Health Management and Healthcare Economics, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria
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