Citizens' Campus: The sound of a city, or city noise? Potentials of acoustic monitoring to increase the quality of life

Every day we are exposed to a variety of acoustic stimuli. While it is easy to stop visual stimuli (closing the eyes is enough), this is much more difficult with acoustic stimuli, as humans cannot switch off their hearing. Especially in urban areas there is a multitude of noise sources. Pleasant sounds, such as the chirping of birds in parks, are contrasted by an increasing number of unpleasant urban sounds, so-called city noise. This can lead to a reduction in the quality of life. The measurement and prediction of noise as a first step for noise reduction measures or targeted urban planning, is difficult because of the countless influencing variables. These are for example subjective perception, duration of noise, weather conditions, wind direction or time of day.

The lecture deals with the basics of noise perception as well as influencing factors and compares these with metrological methods for noise assessment. Research trends in noise measurement and classification will be presented.

Speaker: Dipl.-Ing. Judith Liebetrau, Performance Center InSignA - Intelligent Signal Analysis and Assistance Systems