Indoor soundscapes at home during the COVID-19 lockdown in London – Part II: A structural equation model for comfort, content, and well-being

Torresin, Simone; Albatici, Rossano; Aletta, Francesco; Babich, Francesco; Oberman, Tin; Stawinoga, Agnieszka Elzbieta; Kang, Jian

doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2021.108379

Cited by 37 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(57 reference statements)

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“…For example, it is known that in living spaces, good lighting (both natural and artificial) is essential for safety and physical health, and greatly affects mental health too: studies showed that self-reported inadequate lighting increased the likelihood of depression [ 43 ]. Additionally, in confirmation of our findings, other studies found positive associations between indoor sound insulation and control with self-rated mental health in students [ 44 , 45 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Effect of Housing Quality on the Mental Health of University Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Morganti

Brambilla

Aguglia

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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COVID-19 outbreak imposed rapid and severe public policies that consistently impacted the lifestyle habits and mental health of the general population. Despite vaccination, lockdown restrictions are still considered as potential measures to contrast COVID-19 variants spread in several countries. Recent studies have highlighted the impacts of lockdowns on the population’s mental health; however, the role of the indoor housing environment where people spent most of their time has rarely been considered. Data from 8177 undergraduate and graduate students were collected in a large, cross-sectional, web-based survey, submitted to a university in Northern Italy during the first lockdown period from 1 April to 1 May 2020. Logistic regression analysis showed significant associations between moderate and severe depression symptomatology (PHQ-9 scores ≥ 15), and houses with both poor indoor quality and small dimensions (OR = 4.132), either medium dimensions (OR = 3.249) or big dimensions (OR = 3.522). It was also found that, regardless of housing size, poor indoor quality is significantly associated with moderate–severe depressive symptomatology. Further studies are encouraged to explore the long-term impact of built environment parameter modifications on mental health, and therefore support housing and public health policies.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Effect of Housing Quality on the Mental Health of University Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Morganti

Brambilla

Aguglia

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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“…As regards the impact of the outdoor acoustic environment, only a (non-significant) trend could be observed: people reporting that their room overlooked a noisy area tended to be between 22 and 30% less likely to keep the window open while WFH, respectively for London and Italy. This is consistent with the results from an extended analysis on the London dataset, 38,43 that showed that rooms exposed to noisy urban areas were associated with indoor soundscapes perceived as more annoying and less appropriate for WFH and relaxation. In few cases, participants spontaneously reported the need to close windows while WFH because of noise.…”

Section: Window Opening Behaviour and Natural Ventilationsupporting

confidence: 90%

Associations between indoor soundscapes, building services and window opening behaviour during the COVID-19 lockdown

Torresin

Albatici

Aletta

et al. 2021

Building Services Engineering Research and Technology

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Results of an online survey conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown among 848 home workers living in London (United Kingdom) and in Italy are reported with a focus on (1) the impacts of building services on the perception of the acoustic environment while working and relaxing at home and (2) the factors associated with window opening behaviour. The analyses showed no significant difference in soundscape appropriateness for relaxation depending on the heating, ventilation and cooling system typologies, and in soundscape appropriateness for working from home (WFH) based on the ventilation strategy. Higher soundscape appropriateness for WFH was associated with houses equipped only with radiant floors for heating in Italy and with air-cooling systems in London. In London, air systems resulted in higher perceived dominance of noise from building services compared to other systems. Overall, rooms with less dominant sounds from building services were evaluated as more appropriate for working and relaxing. The dominance of sky or buildings from the window view, outdoor noisiness, noise sensitivity, age and gender were not significantly associated with participants’ window opening behaviour while WFH. Differently, participants viewing more vegetation from windows in Italy were more likely (odds ratio: 1.279) to keep the window open while WFH.

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“…Regarding the questionnaire and co-factors influencing perception, an important aspect of the housing questions is whether respondents live alone or with others in their homes , as investigated in Torresin et al (Torresin, Albatici, Aletta, Babich, Oberman, Stawinoga, and Kang, 2022) . This question is particularly relevant in the context of COVID -19-related lockdown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidimensional analyses of the noise impacts of COVID-19 lockdown

Aumond

Can

Lagrange

et al. 2022

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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As part of the Agence Nationale de Recherche Caractérisation des ENvironnements SonorEs urbains (Characterization of urban sound environments) project, a questionnaire was sent in January 2019 to households in a 1 km 2 study area in the city of Lorient, France, to which about 318 responded. The main objective of this questionnaire was to collect information about the inhabitants' perception of the sound environments in their neighborhoods, streets, and dwellings. In the same study area, starting mid-2019, about 70 sensors were continuously positioned, and 15 of them were selected for testing sound source recognition models. The French lockdown due to the COVID-19 crisis occurred during the project, and the opportunity was taken to send a second questionnaire during April 2020. About 31 of the first 318 first survey respondents answered this second questionnaire. This unique longitudinal dataset, both physical and perceptual, allows the undertaking of an analysis from different perspectives of such a period. The analysis reveals the importance of integrating source recognition tools, soundscape observation protocol, in addition to physical level analysis, to accurately describe the changes in the sound environment.

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Indoor soundscapes at home during the COVID-19 lockdown in London – Part II: A structural equation model for comfort, content, and well-being

Cited by 37 publications

References 42 publications

Effect of Housing Quality on the Mental Health of University Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Effect of Housing Quality on the Mental Health of University Students during the COVID-19 Lockdown

Associations between indoor soundscapes, building services and window opening behaviour during the COVID-19 lockdown

Multidimensional analyses of the noise impacts of COVID-19 lockdown

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