Long-Term Temporal Analysis of Psychoacoustic Parameters of the Acoustic Environment in a University Campus Using a Wireless Acoustic Sensor Network

Abstract

Higher education institution campuses have been growing in size to become small cities that encompass all the infrastructures and offer many services to the university community. In order to achieve sustainable growth, it is necessary to take into account different environmental aspects, including the acoustic environment. In this paper, the application of a wireless acoustic sensor network is proposed for the long-term analysis of psychoacoustic parameters of the acoustic environment in a university campus. A network of acoustic nodes is designed and four nodes are deployed at both indoor and outdoor locations of the campus for environmental noise monitoring. A measurement campaign has been running continuously for nine months, including three months in which the state of emergency due to COVID-19 pandemic was established and the university switched to online classes. Acquired and stored data include not only the basic sound level parameters, e.g., equivalent or percentile sound pressure levels, but also psychoacoustic parameters, that are more related with noise assessment of the environment, e.g., loudness or sharpness sound levels. After analysing the acoustic environment of the campus through the complete set of nodes, results show two zones with higher noise indicators where some action plan should be developed. A detailed analysis of the temporal evolution of noise levels in these acoustically saturated zones is done, comparing values between a period of regular activity and the period of state of emergency. Different frequency distributions of sound levels are detected between day and evening periods providing a better insight into the noise sources. The results also show that binaural psychoacoustic annoyance values are correlated with loudness values in these locations, however sharpness values have minor effects.