The implementation of lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in wide-ranging social and environmental implications. Among the environmental impacts is a decrease in urban noise levels which has so far been observed at the city scale via noise mapping efforts conducted through the framework of the Environmental Noise Directive. This study aims to understand how lockdown measures have manifested at a local level to better determine how the person-level experience of the urban soundscape has been affected and how these affects differ across urban space typologies. Taking London as a case study, a series of 30-second binaural recordings were taken at 11 locations representing a cross-section of urban public spaces with varying compositions of sound sources during Spring 2019 (pre-lockdown, N = 620) and Spring 2020 (during-lockdown, N = 481). Five acoustic and psychoacoustic metrics (LAeq, LA10, LA90, Loudness, Sharpness) were calculated for each recording and their changes from the pre-lockdown scenario to the lockdown scenario are investigated. Clustering analysis was performed which grouped the locations into 3 types of urban settings based on their acoustic characteristics. An average reduction of 5.4 dB (LAeq) was observed, however significant differences in the degree of reduction were found across the locations, ranging from a 10.7 dB to a 1.2 dB reduction. This study confirms the general reduction in noise levels due to the nationally imposed lockdown measures, identifies trends which vary depending on the urban context and discusses the implications for the limits of urban noise reduction.

In policy-making and research alike, environmental sounds are often considered only as psychophysical stressors, leading to adverse health effects. The soundscape approach, on the other hand, aims to extend the scope of sound-related research to consider sounds as resources, promoting healthy and supportive environments. The ISO 12913-1 standard defined soundscapes as acoustic environments “as perceived by people, in context.” The aim of this study was assessing associations between positive soundscapes (e.g., pleasant, calm, less annoying) and positive health-related effects (e.g., increased restoration, reduced stress-inducing mechanisms, etc.). Studies collecting data about individual responses to urban acoustic environments, and individual responses on psychophysical well-being were selected, looking at cases where positive effects were observed. The Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed databases were searched for peer-reviewed journal papers published in English between 1 January 1991 and 31 May 2018, with combinations of the keywords “soundscape” and at least one among “health”, “well-being” or “quality of life.” An additional manual search was performed on the reference lists of the retrieved items. Inclusion criteria were: (1) including at least one measure of soundscape dimensions as per the ISO 12913-1 definition; (2) including at least one health-related measure (either physiological or psychological); (3) observing/discussing a “positive” effect of the soundscape on the health-related outcome. The search returned 130 results; after removing duplicates, two authors screened titles and abstracts and selected 19 papers for further analysis. Seven studies were eventually included, with 2783 participants in total. Each study included at least a valence-related soundscape measure. Regarding the health-related measures, four studies included physiological monitoring and the remaining three included self-reported psychological measures. Positive soundscapes were associated with faster stress-recovery processes in laboratory experiments, and better self-reported health conditions in large-scale surveys. Due to the limited number of items and differences in measures across studies, no statistical analysis was performed, and a qualitative approach to data synthesis was sought. Results support the claim that, in contrast with looking at noise only as an environmental stressor, sound perception can act as an enhancer of the human experience in the urban realm, from a health-related point of view.

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A protocol for characterizing urban soundscapes for use in the design of Soundscape Indices (SSID) and general urban research as implemented under the European Research Council (ERC)-funded SSID project is described in detail. The protocol consists of two stages: (1) a Recording Stage to collect audio-visual recordings for further analysis and for use in laboratory experiments, and (2) a Questionnaire Stage to collect in situ soundscape assessments via a questionnaire method paired with acoustic data collection. Key adjustments and improvements to previous methodologies for soundscape characterization have been made to enable the collation of data gathered from research groups around the world. The data collected under this protocol will form a large-scale, international soundscape database.

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The indoor-outdoor connection provided by ventilation openings has been so far a limiting factor in the use of natural ventilation (NV), due to the apparent conflict between ventilation needs and the intrusion of external noise. This limiting factor impedes naturally ventilated buildings meeting the acoustic criteria set by standards and rating protocols, which are reviewed in this paper for residential buildings. The criteria reflect a general effort to minimize noise annoyance by reducing indoor sound levels, typically without a distinction based on a ventilation strategy. Research has developed a number of solutions, discussed here, that try to guarantee ventilation without compromising façade noise insulation, but, currently, none have been adopted on a large scale. This concept paper highlights the main limits of the current approach. First, a fragmented view towards indoor environmental quality has not included consideration of the following acoustic criteria: (i) how buildings are designed and operated to meet multiple needs other than acoustical ones (e.g., ventilation, visual, and cooling needs) and (ii) how people respond to multiple simultaneous environmental factors. Secondly, the lack of a perceptual perspective has led acoustic criteria to neglect the multiple cognitive and behavioral factors impinging on comfort in naturally ventilated houses. Indeed, factors such as the connection with the outside and the sense of control over one’s environment may induce “adaptive acoustic comfort” opportunities that are worth investigating. The mere use of different sound level limits would not be enough to define criteria tailored to the complex user–building interaction that occurs under NV conditions. More holistic and human-centered approaches are required to guarantee not only neutrally but even positively perceived indoor acoustic environments. For this reason, this paper considers this apparent conflict from a soundscape viewpoint, in order to expose still unexplored lines of research. By underpinning a perceptual perspective and by contextualizing it, the indoor soundscape approach provides a framework capable of overcoming the limits of the traditional noise control approach. This could provide the opportunity to foster a wider adoption of NV as a passive design strategy that enhances user health and well-being, while enabling low-cost, and low-energy cooling and ventilation, thereby contributing to current climate change challenges.

Many cities around the world have claimed that the enforcement of lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 and the corresponding limitations of human activities led to reduced environmental noise levels. However, noise complaints reported by many local authorities were on the rise soon after the local lockdowns came into force. This research took Greater London in the UK as a case study. The overall aim was examining how noise complaints changed during the first stages of the lockdown implementation, during Spring 2020, both locally and at city scale, and how urban factors may have been influencing them. Noise complaint and urban factor datasets from the Government's publicly available data warehouse were used. The results show that during the COVID-19 lockdown the number of noise complaints increased by 48%, compared with the same period during Spring 2019. In terms of noise sources, complaints about construction (36%) and neighbourhood (50%) noise showed significant increases. Urban factors, including housing and demographic factors, played a more significant role than the actual noise exposure to road and rail traffic noise, as derived from the London noise maps. In detail, the change rate of noise complaints was higher in areas with higher unemployment rates, more residents with no qualifications, and lower house price. It is expected that this study could help government with allocating resources more effectively and achieve a better urban environment.