Results from The Quiet Project- UK Acoustic Community's response to COVID19

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 Lockdown created a new kind of environment both in the UK and globally, never experienced before or likely to occur again. A vital and time-critical working group was formed with the aim of gathering crowd-source high quality baseline noise levels and other supporting information. The acoustic community were mobilised through existing networks engaging private companies, public organisations, and academics to gather data in accessible places. A website was designed to advertise the project, provide instructions and to formalise the uploading of noise data, observations, and Soundscape feedback. The data was collected at 99 locations by 80 acousticians (64 male, 16 female) using professional grade calibrated instrumentation with 83% of measurements including spectral data. The locations covered 19 urban, 61 suburban, and 19 rural sites. The Lockdown 1 dataset consisted of a total of 1.6 GB of measurements and material (video, photos) covering 834 days between 1st April and 14th July 2020. This makes the award winning Quiet Project the largest ever noise and soundscape database ever recorded. The paper presents the quietest places in the UK and Ireland. As a government funded research project the databank will be made publicly available to assist future research. © 2022 Internoise 2022 - 51st International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering. All rights reserved.