Indoor noise level measurements and subjective comfort: Feasibility of smartphone-based participatory experiments

Abstract

We designed and performed a participatory sensing initiative to explore the reliability and effectiveness of a distributed network of citizen-operated smartphones in evaluating the impact of environmental noise in residential areas. We asked participants to evaluate the comfort of their home environment in different situations and at different times, to select the most and least comfortable states and to measure noise levels with their smartphones. We then correlated comfort ratings with noise measurements and additional contextual information provided by participants. We discuss how to strengthen methods and procedures, particularly regarding the calibration of the devices, in order to make similar citizen-science efforts effective at monitoring environmental noise and planning long-term solutions to human well-being.

The role of citizen science mobile apps in facilitating a contemporary digital agora

“…Data collection based on the collaborative model, associated with the visualization of data may be exemplified by the NoiseSpy app, for measuring the comfort degree inside some spaces (Rozzi et al 2022). In a co-created model, considering the living environment within a community, another study focused on the elderly citizens group.…”

OpeNoise: a free and open source project for environmental noise assessment

“…In recent years, we have been contacted by high schools, colleges, acoustics technicians or private citizens who wish to use OpeNoise Meter for various reasons [9,10].…”