Healing the urban soundscape: reflections and reverberations

ABSTRACT

Noise is one of many conditions perceived as undesirable in urban life; it has until recently been considered a routine annoyance, prioritized below air pollution, garbage, crime, and traffic accidents as a problem for residents. Guidelines from the World Health Organization have challenged this assumption with clear evidence about the role of noise in damaging health: ambient urban noise from traffic and infrastructure raises risks for heart disease, stroke, depression, and chronic anxiety. Effective developments in design and planning, rooted in the paradigm of soundscape studies, can contribute to supporting public health through the creation of quiet spaces and soundscape modifications.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban planning
• community planning
• urban design
• built environment
• urban soundscapes
• acoustic ecology
• noise control
• noise sensitivity
• noise annoyance
• noise pollution
• public health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A keynote sound is one that characterizes a specific place because it is louder, more persistent, or more noticeable than other elements of the soundscape. The term comes from the early work of R. Murray Schafer (1994), the founder of Acoustic Ecology.

2. The decibel is the standard unit of measurement for sound pressure levels, roughly equivalent to loudness, as measured by a noise dosimeter or sound level meter. The decibel A scale (dBA) is mathematically adjusted to approximate the range of human hearing. A level of 60 dBA is demonstrated by steady residential traffic; traffic on a busy street averages 75 dBA, and a power lawn mower generates 80–90 dBA, loud enough to cause pain to sensitive individuals with brief exposure and to damage hearing with prolonged exposure. Jet engines, rock concerts, and cheering in indoor sports arenas can reach levels of 110–120 dBA, capable of causing permanent hearing damage in a matter of minutes or seconds.

3. Infrasound is also a component of the vibration produced by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, which can travel across continents.

4. For more specific information about the biochemistry of noise-induced stress and its effects on physical and emotional processes, see Westman and Walters 1981.

5. See the World Health Organization documents listed in the References: 1999, Supplement 2001, 2011, 2017, 2018.

6. See, for example, Gidlöf-Gunnarsson 2007 and Jackson 2003. Nilsson and Berglund 2006 specifically emphasize the need to keep daytime traffic noise in parks and suburban green spaces below 50 dBA.

7. Soundwalking involves moving in relative silence through a designated or random area while focusing on listening and noticing layers of sound along with the information they provide. Speech is discouraged as a distraction. Participants may decide to compare notes and share observations at the walk’s conclusion. Soundwalks can be organized by geography, spans of time, or themes, (e.g. birds, traffic, or mechanical sounds in a building); they are quite effective with children as well as adults. Soundmapping consists of producing a visual representation of a soundscape, which can involve plotting axes for time and type of sound, colour-coding, graphing, or drawing. For further information, see: http://www.hildegardwesterkamp.ca/writings/writingsby/?post_id=14&title=%E2%80%8Bsoundwalking-as-ecological-practice-.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marcia Jenneth Epstein

Marcia Jenneth Epstein is a Musicologist and Acoustic Ecologist, researching the effects of music and noise on health and communities. She teaches Auditory Communication, Intercultural Communication, and cultural history courses in the Department of Communication, Media and Film and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Calgary in Canada. Some sections of this article are excerpted from her forthcoming book (preliminary title: Living with Noise: A Listener’s Guide).