Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

degggendorf t1_j6mqu0t wrote

Reply to comment by PrinceHomeless in A team of people studying noise pollution in Providence says the city is inordinately loud for its size – a problem that impacts public health as well as the environment. by GoxBoxSocks

>Did they actually do any measurements?

Yes:

> To gather data on noise pollution in Providence, Brown students canvassed 180 city locations near interstate highways, construction sites, health care centers, schools and parks to collect 5-minute noise readings, day and night, using research-grade sound level meters. The accumulated samples — which totaled 720 sound level measurements from across the city — allowed students to generate a community noise map and produce a report card, rating neighborhoods by noise.

https://www.brown.edu/news/2022-12-11/providence-noise-pollution

4

PrinceHomeless t1_j6mwj56 wrote

Thanks for the link. 5 minutes is pretty short for these kinds of measurements, but I imagine they were limited by the sheer scale of the project. I'm not sure what they mean by "combining" daytime and nighttime noise levels, but their measurements aren't actually that loud. Most of them don't exceed the maximum allowed by the code, and the ones that do exceed it by less than 3 dB.

0

degggendorf t1_j6mx6rv wrote

I am not seeing details about it publicly, but I had them do a sound survey at my place, and the meter was here for a full week. I'm not sure if that's a phase 2 to this project or what though.

Edit: here's some more info on what I participated in:

> Multiple times a week, Nina Lee finds herself in a Rhode Islander’s backyard. She unpacks and then assembles an environmental noise monitor and begins recording. A week later, she’ll return to the site, collect the monitor and store the data for future statistical analysis.

https://www.brown.edu/news/2022-08-30/lee

The article says that results are expected to be published ~Fall 2023

2

communitynoiselab t1_j6ne1fu wrote

We have both short-term and long-term measurements. And 3dB can be quite noticeable. Sound is on a logarithmic scale.

2

PrinceHomeless t1_j6ohki9 wrote

I'm well aware of how sound and the decibel scale work. 3 dB represents the minimum noticeable increase in sound level outside of a controlled research lab. 60-70 dB is pretty typical for a city, which isn't great for annoyance thresholds, but in terms of sleep deprivation, that usually has more to do with structural insulation of residences. I don't have the measurements for other cities, but I imagine a place like NYC averages at least 70 dB if not higher.

1

communitynoiselab t1_j6oipid wrote

I didn't mean to assume that you didn't understand how sound and the decibels. I apologize for that. You made excellent points!

2

PrinceHomeless t1_j6om4el wrote

no worries, just wanted to clarify. I didn't expect to see a noise discussion on here and figured i could at least lend a bit of expertise

1