Yang, T;
Kang, J;
(2023)
Sound environment in an urban apartment building during and after the COVID-19 lockdown.
Frontiers in Psychology
, 14
, Article 1136201. 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1136201.
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Abstract
Quiet areas, such as quiet communities, are encouraged to maintain a harmonious and peaceful urban living environment, and the design approach has drawn increasing attention in recent years. Related residential standards define the thresholds of quietness concerning noise pollution problems. However, the variations in height across floors of high-rise buildings and time in sound environments have not been detailed. The city of Shanghai experienced a citywide lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 showing the evidence of quietness with marked reductions in anthropogenic noise. Here, we conducted noise monitoring in a 14-story apartment building surrounded and shielded by other buildings in a typical urban community during and after lockdown. The mean value of the equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (LAeq) of all 14 floors after lockdown was higher than that during lockdown, and the differences were 3.6 and 3.1 dB during the daytime and night-time periods, respectively. The LAeq values at low heights were slightly lower than those at high heights during and after lockdown. The variations due to the different heights were not great. However, the change tendency from the ground to the top floors was similar and correlated during and after lockdown. The difference between the maximum and minimum values of the floors was 3 dB during the daytime period and 4.5 to 5.1 dB during the night-time period. The day equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (Lday) and night equivalent continuous A-weighted sound pressure level (Lnight) at the middle building height increased 4.0 and 1.3 dB, respectively, after lockdown. The LAeq change tendency during a daily cycle during and after lockdown was similar and highly correlated. The differences in the frequency characteristics of noise level were larger within the 63 to 2,000 Hz range. We suggest that the building represents a typical quiet living condition in high-density habitats in China. Notably, the difference is approximately 3 to 4 dB, and the patterns of variation in height and time are similar between the absence and limited presence of anthropogenic noise. In practice, it would be useful to consider specific floor level or time of day.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Sound environment in an urban apartment building during and after the COVID-19 lockdown |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1136201 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1136201 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2023 Yang and Kang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19 lockdown, noise pollution, quiet community, sound environment, urban community |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10167714 |
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