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Descriptive characterization of sound levels in an environmental justice city before and during a global pandemic.
Walker, Erica D; Lee, Nina F; Scammell, Madeleine K; Feuer, Arielle P; Power, Maria B; Lane, Kevin J; Adamkiewicz, Gary; Levy, Jonathan I.
  • Walker ED; Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: edw@bu.edu.
  • Lee NF; Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Scammell MK; Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Greenroots Inc, Chelsea, MA, USA.
  • Feuer AP; Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Power MB; Greenroots Inc, Chelsea, MA, USA.
  • Lane KJ; Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Adamkiewicz G; Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
  • Levy JI; Department of Environmental Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Environ Res ; 199: 111353, 2021 08.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1245946
ABSTRACT
Many environmental justice communities face elevated exposures to multiple stressors, given biases in urban and environmental policy and planning. This paper aims to evaluate sound level exposure in a densely populated environmental justice city in close proximity to major roadways, a nearby airport and high levels of industrial activity. In this study we collected various sound level metrics to evaluate the loudness and frequency composition of the acoustical environment in Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA. A total of 29 week-long sites were collected from October 2019 to June 2020, a time period that also included the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which drastically altered activity patterns and corresponding sound level exposures. We found that Chelsea is exposed to high levels of sound, both day and night (65 dB (A), and 80 dB and 90 dB for low frequency, and infrasound sound levels). A spectral analysis shows that 63 Hz was the dominant frequency. Distance to major roads and flight activity (both arrivals and departures) were most strongly correlated with all metrics, most notably with metrics describing contributing from lower frequencies. Overall, we found similar patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic but at levels up to 10 dB lower. Our results demonstrate the importance of noise exposure assessments in environmental justice communities and the importance of using additional metrics to describe communities inundated with significant air, road, and industrial sound levels. It also provides a snapshot of how much quieter communities can be with careful and intentional urban and environmental policy and planning.
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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Pandemics / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: North America Language: English Journal: Environ Res Year: 2021 Document Type: Article

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Pandemics / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study Limits: Humans Country/Region as subject: North America Language: English Journal: Environ Res Year: 2021 Document Type: Article