The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community noise Sang Hee Park 1 , Hye-kyung Shin 2 , Kyoung-woo Kim 3 Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology 283, Goyang-daero, Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 10223, Republic of Korea

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable changes in our lives. It has influenced our society, education, economy, and environment as well as our lifestyle. We have got used to wearing face masks daily. Working or studying from home is not an unusual thing anymore. On the other hand, some that we used to regard as normal, such as travelling abroad, have become less normal in this era. These changes subsequently influenced the acoustic environment in our community. Countries have closed their borders, set travel restrictions, and ordered their residents to stay home. Due to the reduced number of travelling, recent studies have noticed changes in traffic noise exposure. In addition, people gather less (e.g. at pubs or social events) during the pandemic, which also has an impact on the acoustic environment in our community. This paper provides a review of the literature on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on community noise. Based on the review, this paper concludes with suggestions for future research directions to create a better acoustic environment in the post-COVID era.

1. INTRODUCTION

Since December 2019 when the COVID-19 was first confirmed, the virus spread quickly and we have seen the number of infections and death surging around the world. The WHO reports there have been 510,270,667 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 6,233,526 deaths as of 29 April 2022 [1]. Due to this unprecedented pandemic, the world is experiencing rapid changes in economy, politics, society, environment, culture, and population. Numerous schools around the world have been closed during the pandemic. Schools operated remote classes and homeschooling. Statistics have shown that the pandemic has made us realize a need for developing creative educational methods, infrastructure such as network environment, learning digital devices, and learning content for remote classes etc. COVID-19 also had a significant impact on the working patterns. Many industries have started remote work and many are committed to doing it permanently. Although there may be differences depending on the job characteristics, the possibility and efficiency of remote work have been confirmed worldwide. According to a recent report [2], education, training, and library-related jobs can handle 98% of work from home. Additionally, more than 70% of legal, financial, management, design, entertainment, and media-related tasks can be handled from home.

1 sangheepark@kict.re.kr 2 hkshin@kict.re.kr 3 kwmj@kict.re.kr

Because of the implementation of the COVID-19 social distancing policy which includes remote classes and work-from-home, the time people spend inside their homes has increased significantly. As a result, complaints and social problems caused by indoor noise have increased. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, it has been reported that the number of complaints regarding neighbour noise was the highest ever in South Korea [3]. Conflicts and disputes due to noise between neighbours continue in multifamily housing buildings and some lead to violence and crimes.

Noise is one of the major factors of environmental pollution that risks individuals' rest, sleep, work, and learning; it also threats one's health. The present study aimed to investigate ways to create a better acoustic environment in the post-COVID era which can minimize the adverse effect of noise on humans. To do so, the study reviewed related literature. This presentation mainly consists of three sections. First, it reviews studies that investigated how outdoor noise had changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, studies that assessed the changes in indoor noise during the pandemic are reviewed. Lastly, it discusses future research directions for creating better acoustic environments.

2. CHANGES IN OUTDOOR NOISE

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19, a number of countries worldwide had instituted either a full or partial lockdown. Accordingly, studies have reported that there had been a decrease in traffic noise. One of the major reasons for the decrease in traffic noise was the decrease in the volume of traffic which includes aircraft and road traffic. There have been a few studies in varied countries that measured traffic noise during the lockdown. Vogiatzis et al. [4] examined the changes in aircraft and road traffic noise in Athens. The study found a significant decrease in road traffic noise level (L den ) in 2020, which was 3 ~ 6 dB lower than that of previous years. It reported that the major reason for the decrease was a significant decrease in the traffic volume; the number of vehicles per day was 20,000 ~ 50,000 smaller in 2020 compared to that in 2018 and 2019. Munoz et al. [5] conducted in France performed long-term noise measurements in several locations. When compared before and during the lockdown, noise level (L den ) decreased by 4 ~ 6 dB on average, particularly traffic noise decreased by up to 10 dB. The main reason was a significant decrease in road and air traffic during the lockdown. Asensio et al. [6] measured noise levels in Madrid. When the lockdown was strengthened, traffic volume in the area decreased by 85%. Traffic noise level (L den ) decreased by 4 ~ 5 dB and this tendency was greater in traffic-dominant areas. Hornberg et al. [7] set several noise monitoring areas in Ruhr area and measured noise levels before and after lockdown. Noise level (L Aeq,24h ) on major roads decreased the least (3.9 dB) and that in the residential area and green spaces showed the largest decrease (5.9 dB). Unlike other studies which conducted field noise measurements, Aletta et al. [8] carried out a traffic simulation to investigate changes in noise emissions before, during, and after lockdown mitigation in Rome. They used data of traffic volume to compute the noise exposure and separately looked into the road traffic noise before lockdown, during the lockdown, and after lockdown mitigation. The results showed that the noise level (L W ′ ,eq,line,m ) decreased by up to 6.8 dB. It was mainly because road traffic volume decreased by 64.6% on average during the lockdown and 34.6% on average after the lockdown mitigation.

Table 1 presents a summary of some studies which have been carried out to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on outdoor noise. Although there are more studies, this paper only summarizes a few of them.

Table 1: Studies on the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and outdoor noise changes

Study design

Study Location

Findings Comparison Time period

Number of sites

analyzed

6 near the

before vs.

Noise reduction during the lockdown

Vogiatzis

Athens,

2018 ~

airport; 4 near the

during lockdown

due to the decrease in the traffic

et al. [4]

Greece

2020

volume.

tollway

before vs.

January ~

Munoz et

Southern

21 Noise reduction during the lockdown

during lockdown

May 2020

al. [5]

France

in highly dominant road areas.

Noise reduction during the lockdown

before vs.

Hornberg

Ruhr, Germany

March

– the least in major road areas and greater reduction in residential areas

during lockdown

2020 22

et al. [7]

and green areas.

Noise reduction during the lockdown

– more effects of leisure, tourism, and commercial noise than traffic noise; increased nighttime noise in an area where a field medical facility

before vs.

February

Asensio et al. [6]

Madrid,

during lockdown

~ June

5

Spain

2020

for the COVID-19 was located.

Noise reduction during the lockdown

Alsina- Pagès et

before vs.

January ~

in the nightlife areas the most,

Girona,

during lockdown

June 2020

4

moderate in commercial and restaurant areas, and the least in

Spain

al. [9]

dense traffic areas.

exact number not

Around

Noise reduction during the lockdown

Redel- Macías et

during vs.

March ~

specified; survey

Spain (mainly Córdoba)

around the country that might be due

after lockdown

June 2020

respondents

to the reduced activities and

al. [10]

measured outdoor noise

mobility.

Noise reduction during the lockdown

Bonet- Solà et al.

before vs.

January ~

in the nightlife areas the most,

Barcelona,

during lockdown

June 2020

8

moderate in commercial and restaurant areas, and the least in

Spain

[11]

dense traffic areas.

January

Port of Koper, Slovenia

before vs.

Noise reduction during the lockdown

Čurović et al. [12]

2018 ~

during lockdown

3

due to the reduced shipping traffic

April

volume

2020

Noise reduction during the lockdown; noise gradually increased

Novembe

Steele and Guastavin

before, during, after

Montreal,

r 2019 ~

3

after the lockdown and it nearly reached the pre-lockdown levels

Canada

March

o [13]

lockdown

2021

within four weeks.

before vs.

January ~

Noise reduction during the lockdown

Basu et al. [14]

Dublin,

during lockdown

May 2020

12

which might be due to the reduced

Ireland

traffic volume.

3. CHANGES IN NOISE PERCEPTION

Although the pandemic has led to reduced outdoor noise, studies have reported that indoor noise has increased. Lee and Jeong [15] reported that complaints about indoor noise increased 48% compared to the same period in 2019, and the number of tweets posted on Twitter related to indoor noise complaints nearly quadrupled in the UK. The study also reported that the perceived outdoor noise annoyance decreased during the lockdown while neighbour noise annoyance increased. In Canada, Andargie et al. [16] found that 48% of respondents to the indoor noise survey recognized that indoor noise was greater, and 35% said that irritation caused by indoor noise increased. The authors discussed that the results were due to the longer time spent at home during the lockdown caused more exposure to indoor noise and negative noise perception. The lockdown and remote working has influenced residents to stay in their dwelling for a longer time. Şentop Dümen and Şaher [17] conducted a survey study in Turkey. In their study, 61% of the respondents reported that they almost stay at home and 67% said they work from home every day. They found lower annoyance with outdoor noise whereas higher annoyance with indoor noise. The study also reported that the increased time spent at home had impacts on mental health such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Puglisi et al. [18] carried out a questionnaire survey and found that noise from the neighbourhoods or made by housemates caused noise annoyance. The study reported that 25% of workers perceived human-induced noise as a major cause of disruption to work.

4. FUTURE RESEARCH

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the space of dwelling had only been recognized as a residential space. It has not been regarded as a work and study environment. Now, housing has expanded its function not only as a living space but also as a home school and office. Considering this change, further studies are needed on the indoor soundscape. In the post-COVID time, there is a demand for multi-functional housing design as lifestyle changes in which remote activities have become common. Therefore, soundscape designs for different space functions such as work, study, and living/rest are needed. To do so, future research may explore the required acoustic conditions for each space function and find out the direction of multi-functional housing design.

5. CONCLUSIONS

The present study reviewed literature published between 2020 and 2021 which focused on the effects of COVID-19 on noise environment and noise perception. The study found that changes in behaviours due to the lockdown had an impact on the acoustic environment, which is one of the major environmental pollutants. It was found that outdoor noise decreased in general whereas indoor noise increased. The increased indoor noise led to an increased negative perception of the noise. This study suggests future research on the indoor soundscape to probe multi-functional housing design in the post-COVID era.

6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Research for this paper was carried out under the KICT Research Program (project no. 20220156-001) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT. 7. REFERENCES

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