Comparison of soundwalks in major European cities

The quality of the sonic environment in major cities is becoming increasingly important owing to growing concerns regarding noise pollution and the need to preserve the soundscape as intangible cultural heritage. The objective of the present study is to demonstrate the use of a smartphone as a platform to collect sound data and generate a sound map based on soundwalks in major European cities. The sonic environments of the five major cities namely Paris, London, Amsterdam, Prague and Milan are presented and compared with those of two smaller European cities: Trondheim and Aachen. Among these seven European cities, Aachen is the quietest city, with equivalent and maximum sound pressure levels (SPLs) of about 66.5 dBA and 85.8 dBA, respectively. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the use of smartphones to collect sound data and generate sound maps for major European cities. Among the seven cities studied, Aachen was found to be the quietest city.