Environmental Noise Monitoring
Noise Pollution in cities
In almost every city, citizen are affected by noise pollution; a serious and underestimated risk to our health. It is almost as damaging as air pollution. In Europe alone, 22 million people are affected by noise pollution, according to the European Environment Agency (2020). 6.5 million people of this group are suffering from chronic noise annoyance and sleep disturbance. The effect of long-term exposure to environmental noise are amongst others: high levels of stress, headache, sleep disorders, high blood pressure, fatigue, and depression. Sadly, noise pollution even causes 12,000 premature deaths.
Harbors & Ships
Airports
Traffic
Construction Site
Railways
Industry Noise
Events & Festivals
Night Life
Regulations on environmental noise
To reduce the amount of people suffering from noise pollution, the European Union has issued the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC. The regulation requires cities to publish noise maps and noise management action plans, every five years. Unfortunately, these traditional models only give limited insights. The 5-yearly measurements are a snapshot of the real situation, without taking changing conditions in account. Such as the difference between day and night, busy and quiet days, environmental changes. Furthermore, the noise maps indicate the amount of decibels, but you don’t know where the sound is coming from.Continuous Environmental Noise Monitoring
We believe that every city wants the best for their citizens and act according the regulations. However, the lack of insights is not enough for a city to start tackling the noise issue. That’s where environmental noise monitoring comes in. You can gather data 24/7, you can obtain the relevant insights to understand the scope of the noise pollution in your city. It enables you to create a noise management action plans that actually deal with noise pollution in a pro-active and targeted way. So, you can make a true difference for your citizens.“You can gather data 24/7 and localize where the sound comes from with great precision”
What does the solution look like?
With the Sorama L642 Platform, you can get the needed insights in the noise pollution issue of your municipality. You can generate data of traffic noise and pollution from nightlife, such as city centers, squares, restaurants, bars and festivals. But also of industrial areas, construction noise and nearby airports or harbors. Unlike the commonly used sound level meters, with a single microphone, the L642 can locate the source due to the device’s 64 microphones.
With the gathered data, you can create a continuous updating noise map, taking changing conditions into account. Additionally, you can zoom in on specific areas and locate the real source of the noise pollution is. E.g. there are 5 pubs in a row and citizens complain about noise pollution. With our solution, you can see exactly which pub(s) cause the noise, so you can act accordingly.