scholarly journals Revisiting Acoustics Education Using Mobile Devices to Learn Urban Acoustic Environments: Recent Issues on Current Devices and Applications

Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimihiro Sakagami ◽  
Fumiaki Satoh ◽  
Akira Omoto
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Urban Studies ◽  
Education Program ◽  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Measurement Accuracy ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Model Case ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Noise Map

In this paper, we revisit the acoustics education program using mobile devices to better understand urban environments. We begin with a summary of our past projects to demonstrate a model case of the concept. In these projects, the output was mainly supposed to be a noise map with measured sound pressure levels (SPLs) and sound spectra. This methodology can obviously be applied to larger-scale urban studies. Including measured sound spectra can be another advantage. Next, current problems in measurement accuracy due to recent device developments are explained and the required examinations are stated. Finally, the accuracy of the current versions of the applications as well as recently available devices are discussed. The results of this study provide information regarding the measurement accuracy of mobile devices, and some suggestions for their practical use are given, which are also useful for additional studies pertaining to the urban acoustic environment.

scholarly journals The Living Barrier: Residential architecture acting as a noise barrier near railway corridors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jonathan Lim
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Residential Architecture ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Noise Barrier ◽  
Acoustic Environments

<p>As urban regions increase in population and density, the need for quietness and spaces of relative calm becomes important to inhabitants’ physiological and psychological health and wellbeing. Noises, and the sounds that create them, are treated as a by-product of urban densification and the advancement of technology. This led to uncontrolled and incidental acoustic environments around notable points of urban densification. Each sound adds together in the acoustic environment to create a composition that is labelled collectively as noise. Those in the professions of planning and designing these urban environments have a responsibility to become the composers of the grand aural experience that is the worldly soundscape.  In response to this design problem, this portfolio explored how architecture can be designed to enable this sustainable densification of noisy urban environments. It proposed the incorporation of psychoacoustics and R. Murray Schafer’s soundscape philosophy (and ongoing related research) into acoustic design. By understanding the complex creation of the aural experience, this portfolio investigated whether the key to living healthily and sustainably in an inevitably sound-filled urban environment laid in the design of soundscape as a perceptual construct.  The investigation translated relevant literature into broad explorations of soundscape design elements at a variety of architectural scales. Using soundscape principles in a design process produced a strong architectural proposition that could solve both densification and acoustic problems. This had widespread and profound implications on architectural design practices. The portfolio therefore prompts further explorations into soundscape design for other architectural problems and applications.</p>

scholarly journals Use of Mobile Devices with Multifunctional Sound Level Measurement Applications: Some Experiences for Urban Acoustics Education in Primary and Secondary Schools

Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimihiro Sakagami ◽  
Fumiaki Satoh ◽  
Akira Omoto
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Sound Level ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Location Data ◽  
Recorded Sound ◽  
Level Measurement ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Level Meter ◽  
Sound Data

Geo-referenced sound data are often used in the field of acoustics education to learn about the urban acoustic environment. Simple soundwalks and sound collections are also employed, in which acquiring additional information such as visual data, recorded sound data, and GPS location data are helpful to produce a map with sound data and sound collection and to carry out more profound discussions in educational activities. In order to enrich these acoustic educational and environmental survey activities with a simple tool, the use of multifunctional sound-pressure level (SPL) measurement applications with mobile devices are proposed. Some experiences of combined activities of the above methods using the applications and mobile devices are reported in this paper. In this study, applications for SPL measurements, which record GPS location data, sound, photo, and video during measurements, were used to produce geo-referenced sound data. First, the accuracy of the applications was checked and we found them to have reasonable accuracy when used with iOS devices; for example, the averaged error was less than 1.5 dB(A) with iPhone XS. Next, they were actually used in a simple soundwalk-like field survey and the resulting geo-referenced sound data were presented to discuss the merits and demerits of each application. Overall, the applications used in this work were found to be useful; for example, recorded sound allowed us to check the main sound source and to carry out discussions using collected sound samples later, and photos and videos allowed us to grasp the impressions and situations around the measuring points. Therefore, these multifunctional sound level meter (SLM) applications can be effectively used for various purposes, including acoustics education for learning about urban acoustic environments.

scholarly journals The Living Barrier: Residential architecture acting as a noise barrier near railway corridors

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jonathan Lim
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Health ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Residential Architecture ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Noise Barrier ◽  
Acoustic Environments

<p>As urban regions increase in population and density, the need for quietness and spaces of relative calm becomes important to inhabitants’ physiological and psychological health and wellbeing. Noises, and the sounds that create them, are treated as a by-product of urban densification and the advancement of technology. This led to uncontrolled and incidental acoustic environments around notable points of urban densification. Each sound adds together in the acoustic environment to create a composition that is labelled collectively as noise. Those in the professions of planning and designing these urban environments have a responsibility to become the composers of the grand aural experience that is the worldly soundscape.  In response to this design problem, this portfolio explored how architecture can be designed to enable this sustainable densification of noisy urban environments. It proposed the incorporation of psychoacoustics and R. Murray Schafer’s soundscape philosophy (and ongoing related research) into acoustic design. By understanding the complex creation of the aural experience, this portfolio investigated whether the key to living healthily and sustainably in an inevitably sound-filled urban environment laid in the design of soundscape as a perceptual construct.  The investigation translated relevant literature into broad explorations of soundscape design elements at a variety of architectural scales. Using soundscape principles in a design process produced a strong architectural proposition that could solve both densification and acoustic problems. This had widespread and profound implications on architectural design practices. The portfolio therefore prompts further explorations into soundscape design for other architectural problems and applications.</p>

scholarly journals Appraisal of Significance of Acoustic Parameters in Contribution to Human Annoyance

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 3787
Author(s):  
Mia Suhanek ◽  
Sanja Grubeša ◽  
Ivan Đurek ◽  
Antonio Petošić
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Audio Signals ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Chi Square Test ◽  
Human Annoyance ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Amplitude Growth

The goal of this paper was to describe a study which aimed to determine the significance of acoustic parameters in terms of some typical audio signals which occur in common urban environments. The focus when establishing the significance was set on their relevance with respect to the annoyance of the study participants. In order to carry out this experiment, an acoustic environment recording was made in which short distracting signals were inserted into the acoustic environment background sound. The recording obtained in the described way was then reproduced to listeners in laboratory conditions. Furthermore, the experiment was envisaged in a way that the participants had the option to adjust the following acoustic parameters: the amplitude, duration and the amplitude growth rates of the short signals. In order to prove the statistical significance of the obtained results from the experiment and the study premise, the chi-square test was applied. Thus, according to the results of the study, the ranking of the objective acoustic parameters was achieved with respect to the human annoyance i.e., it can be concluded that the most common reason for the human annoyance in different acoustic environments is the sound amplitude, then its duration and finally its amplitude growth rate.

Hearing Aid Amplification Reduces Communication Effort of People With Hearing Impairment and Their Conversation Partners

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Directional Hearing ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
The Impact

Objectives This study investigates the hypothesis that hearing aid amplification reduces effort within conversation for both hearing aid wearers and their communication partners. Levels of effort, in the form of speech production modifications, required to maintain successful spoken communication in a range of acoustic environments are compared to earlier reported results measured in unaided conversation conditions. Design Fifteen young adult normal-hearing participants and 15 older adult hearing-impaired participants were tested in pairs. Each pair consisted of one young normal-hearing participant and one older hearing-impaired participant. Hearing-impaired participants received directional hearing aid amplification, according to their audiogram, via a master hearing aid with gain provided according to the NAL-NL2 fitting formula. Pairs of participants were required to take part in naturalistic conversations through the use of a referential communication task. Each pair took part in five conversations, each of 5-min duration. During each conversation, participants were exposed to one of five different realistic acoustic environments presented through highly open headphones. The ordering of acoustic environments across experimental blocks was pseudorandomized. Resulting recordings of conversational speech were analyzed to determine the magnitude of speech modifications, in terms of vocal level and spectrum, produced by normal-hearing talkers as a function of both acoustic environment and the degree of high-frequency average hearing impairment of their conversation partner. Results The magnitude of spectral modifications of speech produced by normal-hearing talkers during conversations with aided hearing-impaired interlocutors was smaller than the speech modifications observed during conversations between the same pairs of participants in the absence of hearing aid amplification. Conclusions The provision of hearing aid amplification reduces the effort required to maintain communication in adverse conditions. This reduction in effort provides benefit to hearing-impaired individuals and also to the conversation partners of hearing-impaired individuals. By considering the impact of amplification on both sides of dyadic conversations, this approach contributes to an increased understanding of the likely impact of hearing impairment on everyday communication.

scholarly journals Noise at the time of COVID 19: The impact in some areas in Rome and Milan, Italy

Noise Mapping ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 248-264
Author(s):  
Rosa Maria Alsina Pagès ◽  
Francesc Alías ◽  
Patrizia Bellucci ◽  
Pier Paolo Cartolano ◽  
Ilaria Coppa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Motor Vehicles ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Commercial Activities ◽  
Real Time Traffic ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed in Italy at the end of January 2020, when the first positive cases for the virus were identified. At the beginning of March, the virus had spread to all Italian regions and on 10 March 2020 the lockdown phase began, limiting the movement of people and prohibiting almost all commercial activities, businesses and non-essential industries. As a result, millions of people were forced to stay at home, causing a drastic drop in traffic volume, which significantly changed the acoustic environment and air quality of cities. On 4 May 2020, the lockdown was partially lifted and activities were progressively reopened. Therefore, traffic gradually started to increase and, consequently, the noise emitted by motor vehicles. This behaviour was confirmed by the data collected by the DYNAMAP system, an automatic platform developed within the LIFE DYNAMAP project, providing real time traffic noise maps in terms of sound pressure levels and impacts at receivers (people and dwellings exposed to noise level bands). In this paper traffic and non-traffic-related noise events in the cities of Rome and Milan from March to May 2020 are analysed and compared to the corresponding values in 2019 to evaluate the effects of the lockdown period.

scholarly journals Subjective Experience of Speech Depending on the Acoustic Treatment in an Ordinary Room

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (23) ◽  
pp. 12274
Author(s):  
Emma Arvidsson ◽  
Erling Nilsson ◽  
Delphine Bard-Hagberg ◽  
Ola J. I. Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Sound Quality ◽  
Reverberation Time ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
The Right ◽  
Acoustic Treatment ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Speech Clarity

In environments such as classrooms and offices, complex tasks are performed. A satisfactory acoustic environment is critical for the performance of such tasks. To ensure a good acoustic environment, the right acoustic treatment must be used. The relation between different room acoustic treatments and how they affect speech perception in these types of rooms is not yet fully understood. In this study, speech perception was evaluated for three different configurations using absorbers and diffusers. Twenty-nine participants reported on their subjective experience of speech in respect of different configurations in different positions in a room. They judged sound quality and attributes related to speech perception. In addition, the jury members ranked the different acoustic environments. The subjective experience was related to the different room acoustic treatments and the room acoustic parameters of speech clarity, reverberation time and sound strength. It was found that people, on average, rated treatments with a high degree of absorption as best. This configuration had the highest speech clarity value and lowest values for reverberation time and sound strength. The perceived sound quality could be correlated to speech clarity, while attributes related to speech perception had the strongest association with reverberation time.

Monitoring the Reaction and Response of People to Urban Noise

2010 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Popescu ◽  
Iuliana Moholea
Keyword(s):  
Living Environment ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
Urban Noise ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Exposed Population ◽  
Local Patterns ◽  
Specific Reactions ◽  
Area Planning ◽  
Proper Solutions ◽  
Noise Map

AbstractAn important aspect in assessing noise in urban agglomerations is the subjective one, which takes into account the sensitivity and specific reactions of residents to the noise in their living environment. This paper presents results of a sociological study initiated to determine the population awareness, regarding the urban acoustic environment and estimation of effects and disturbance. The survey was conducted in a Romanian city, to complement the information provided by the strategic noise map of the area. This approach allows the estimation of specific local patterns of reaction and response to urban noise of the exposed population and provides the information, needed to develop action plans and to set proper solutions for urban area planning.

The Elucidation of Mechanism of Local Sound Pressure Increase Phenomenon

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reiko Koganei ◽  
Shigemasa Ando ◽  
Qinzhong Shi ◽  
Ichiro Hagiwara
Keyword(s):  
Structural Damage ◽  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Pressure Increase ◽  
Narrow Gap ◽  
Local Pressure ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Space Instruments ◽  
Acoustic Cavity ◽  
Lift Off ◽  
Component Interface

Payloads of satellite are exposed on the severe acoustic environment at the process of lift-off and supersonic zone of a launcher. This acoustic environment excites the payload in high pressure and broad frequency band of random acoustical excitation, which may cause serious damage to the structures or instruments of the spacecraft inside. Space instruments are designed and verified to the acoustic environment by ground reverberant acoustic chamber in order to specify random vibration level at component interface and to verify the payloads are working in function and the structure does not have structural damage. The present load sound pressure specification assumes that the sound pressure interior fairing is uniformly distributed. In spacecraft system acoustic tests, local pressure increase occurs in the narrow gap between spacecraft primal structure and components facing toward the fairing wall. This acoustical environment load to the components differs from that the components were tested alone and the flight acoustic environment may not be actually simulated in the ground testing. It is important to clarify the mechanism of sound pressure increase in the narrow gap in order to predict the level of sound pressure increase. In this study, we focus to the investigation of the mechanism by basic experiment including acoustic testing and vibration modal survey. It is clarified that the main reason of the phenomenon is dominated by the acoustic cavity on the appropriate boundary condition rather than structure vibration. And more, we predict the frequency at which the sound pressure increase at the narrow gap and compare analysis results with experiment results by using Boundary Element Method (BEM).

An Efficient Information Services-Centric Framework for Commuter

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-39
Author(s):  
Wee Siong Ng ◽  
Justin Cheng ◽  
XianJun Wang ◽  
Sivakumar Viswanathan
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Traffic Management ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Mobile Environment ◽  
Real Time Traffic ◽  
Efficient Information ◽  
Matching Mechanism ◽  
Information Consumers

One of the major objectives of Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) is to reduce traffic congestion in urban environments by improving the efficiency of utilization of existing transport infrastructures. Many creative and efficient technologies have been developed over the years. Although commuters, especially drivers, take a critical part in containing traffic congestion problems, they are playing a passive role in the traffic-management ecosystem. Considerably, this is due to the information asymmetry between ATMS decision makers and commuters; what is missing is a matching mechanism to create a bridge between information providers and information consumers in the mobile environment. The authors’ solution provides an efficient services-centric framework for delivering pertinent information to commuters. Probe vehicles are used to estimate the real-time traffic flow and disseminate this information effectively to users’ mobile devices. A 2-level indexing scheme is designed to effectively index the grid cells which contain the spatial information and a location-aware mobile application and back-end services are also implemented. Processed information is disseminated to users’ mobile devices through wireless means and presented in a user friendly interface. Experimental results show that this system is scalable and responsive.

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