Multidimensional analyses of the noise impacts of COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract

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.

The actual and ideal indoor soundscape for work, relaxation, physical and sexual activity at home: A case study during the COVID-19 lockdown in London

“…As a result of the measures taken with the health emergency, the COVID-19 lockdown represented an unprecedented scenario in terms of outdoor noise levels reduction and concentration of activities in the domestic space ( You et al, 2022 ). Several surveys have addressed the impact of the acoustic environment on building occupants ( Şentop Dümen and Şaher, 2020 ; Andargie et al, 2021 ; Bartalucci et al, 2021 ; Caniato et al, 2021 ; Dzhambov et al, 2021 ; Lee and Jeong, 2021 ; Puglisi et al, 2021 ; Aumond et al, 2022 ). The focus has been more often on noise annoyance, perceived loudness, salience of specific noise sources, general evaluation of the acoustic environment (i.e., sound quality and appropriateness) and perceived magnitude of (negative) impacts of noise exposure, sometimes comparing the ratings collected during lockdown to those prior to lockdown.…”

Noise Perception and Health Effects on Population: A Cross-Sectional Study on COVID-19 Lockdown by Noise Sources for Spanish Dwellings

“…They evidenced the positive perception of outdoor soundscapes during the lockdowns, compared to the pre-existing soundscapes [22,24]. There was an increase in the perception of biophonic sounds like birds [27] and geophonic sounds [28]. Some studies even detected an increased presence of human sounds of voices and walking [29,30].…”

Sons al Balcó: A Comparative Analysis of WASN-Based LAeq Measured Values with Perceptual Questionnaires in Barcelona during the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…There are some precedents that combined an objective and a subjective approach in order to analyze the impact of the lockdown using a multidimensional approach such as in the city of Lorient, France [ 44 ], where data gathered from a network of sensors were used in addition to the citizen’s perception of the soundscape during 2019 and 2020, collected by two questionnaires, to improve the accuracy in describing changes in a sound environment. Finally, a systematic review on 119 studies about the perceptual change or the noise level change during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown can be found in [ 45 ].…”