Cacaphony
to
Symphony
Based on existing research of the negative impacts of noise in NYC, as well as positive cognitive benefits of ambient sound: How do we regulate noise in New York City through an emergent system to ultimately promote wellbeing?
COFFEE SHOP: ~70dB
MOTOR TRAFFIC: ~110 dB
CONSTRUCTION: ~90dB
Effects of
Noise Frequency
Sound frequency affects health; sensitivity peaks between 500-5000 Hz.
Noise at 2,400-4,800 Hz can cause hearing damage.
Urban noise from transportation and industry has long-term health risks.
Case Study
New York City
More than 30 million people in the U.S. have hearing loss due to exposure to loud noise.
In New York City, nearly one in six adults report ringing in their ears or hearing loss.
About 20% of New Yorkers say they are frequently disturbed by noise at home.
NEGATIVES
NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF URBAN NOISE
What aspects of noise are harmful to a population?
Source of noise and its prevelance in complaints
(Hover over Icons)
NOISE IMPACTS THE SPEED OF BEHAVIOR
A study on the "Effect of Traffic Noise on Pedestrian Walking Speed"(link) reveals that exposure to noisy urban environments prompts people to walk faster, leading to a more hectic lifestyle with detrimental effects on health and well-being
Impact on mental health
With continued exposure to noise pollution, a person’s sensitivity to stress increases
Impact on physical health
People living in noisy areas are more likely to be hospitalized for heart disease and strokes than those who live in quieter places.
Impact on Physical Health
Loud urban noise can lead to permanent hearing loss, resulting in social isolation, depression, and cognitive decline. The prevalence of likely noise-induced hearing loss from 2 time periods in adults (20–69 years) by race/ethnicity and sex (gender).
Impact on Children
Noise exposure can impact young children’s academic performance by affecting reading comprehension, concentration, memory, and attention span
POSITIVES
POSITIVE IMPACTS OF URBAN NOISE
What aspects of noise are beneficial to a population?
NOISE INCREASES CREATIVITY
Moderate background noise (around 70 decibels) can enhance human creativity, fostering innovative thinking in workspaces and classrooms.
CULTURAL COMMUNITY OF NOISE
Urban noise, when thoughtfully curated, contributes to the vibrancy and dynamism of city life.
Low dB(50 dB)
Low noise (such as a library) is good for concentrating however, it's not always great for thinking up new ideas.
(Hover to see creativity
levels visualized)
Moderate dB(70 dB)
Moderate noise (a busy café) seems to encourage creative thinking; helping people come up with cool ideas.
(Hover to see creativity
levels visualized)
High dB (85 dB)
High noise is like a construction site. It makes it hard to think and be creative. People don't come up with many new ideas when it's super loud.
(Hover to see creativity
levels visualized)
RECCOMENDATIONS
RECCOMENDATIONS
Noise-regulation systems already in place are extremely advanced at recording real time data of noise levels; However, they almost solely focus only on the collection of the data, leaving the rest up to the DEP. Whilst this remedies the issue to a certain extent, the turnaround time can be slow, short-lasting and overall unhelpful to citizens a majority of the time . Considering the powerful IoT systems already in place that collect real time data about noise in NYC, there should be a solution that parallels this constant influx of valuable data.
311 SERVICE REQUESTS
HOVER TO SEE DESCRIPTOR AND CREATION DATE (MAY TAKE A MOMENT TO LOAD)
31,338 SERVICE REQUESTS
Were filed for noise complaints in October of 2023. All of them being described as "loud music"
Mitigate Noise Pollution Through Citizen Empowerment
Systems currently in place are regulatory rather than emergent: they rely on giving the data they collect to the NYC government, rather than to the community at large. Creating an emergent resolution system has the potential to combat noise pollution at a faster pace as the responsibility is no longer placed solely on the DEP.
Restructure Info Flows
There is an extremely large amount of information being collected by these organizations aiming to decrease noise pollution; However, this information is not widely shared. Rearrange who has access to the information in order to combat noise pollution (Based on Donna Meadow’s Nine Leverage Points) .
Make the Data Accessible
While there is a fair amount of ‘open data’ regarding noise pollution in NYC, the data is generally only open to those who know where to look and how to understand it. Therefore, this data is not readily accessible in a way that could help citizens on an individual and actionable level.
Collect and Display the Data On a User-Friendly Platform
Being sure to clean the data and organize it so the users can see the information that is most relevant to them (in this instance, that means 311 service requests submitted nearby them and audio data from the sensors closest to them). See mockup below.
Example
The article, “The Future of Smart Cities with AI and Smart Noise Management Systems” speculates that by using IoT technology and artificial intelligence, individuals can be directly notified of noise disturbances. In the case of an individual, when they file a noise complaint, they would immediately see if others in their area have filed a noise complaint. This could create the opportunity of local/community problem solving amongst neighbors
Increased Security Issues?
All the data to be included on this platform is technically already available to the public as safety measures have already been implemented within these organization's collection methods to ensure the anonymity of the data. This platform’s main functionality is ultimately working to merely lower the barrier-of-entry to data that is already open to the public.
PLATFORM MOCK UP
Conclusion
Overall, giving citizens the ability to access this information easily can help raise awareness of harmful noise levels around them and empower them with knowledge. Accessible, real-time data is the first step towards equipped citizens to have more control over their environment – and subsequently, their own well being. However, this proposal requires us to ask the following: who is responsible? What is citizen responsibility v.s. government responsibility? And further, where does IoT stand in the midst of this? Going forward, what would actually happen if a platform like this was deployed and how would citizens use this information? These questions will ultimately guide urban developers to understand how public engagement and responsibility mentality change as IoT and Smart Governments become even more prominent within the future.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Atkinson, Rowland. “Ecology of Sound: The Sonic Order of Urban Space.” Urban Studies 44, no. 10 (2007): 1905–17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43197543.
Aletta, Francesco, and Simone Torresin. “The Sounds around Us in Cities and Buildings.” Frontiers for Young Minds 10 (November 24, 2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2022.910059.
Bello, Juan Pablo, Cláudio T Silva, Oded Nov, Roger Luke DuBois, Anish Kumar Arora, Justin Salamon, Charlie Mydlarz, and Harish Doraiswamy. “SONYC: A System for Monitoring, Analyzing, and Mitigating Urban Noise Pollution.” ACM Digital Library, February 2019. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3224204.
Chan, Margaret Po-ling. “Specific Effects of Urban Noise.” Ekistics 55, no. 331/332 (1988): 208–14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43623040.
Franěk, Marek, Lukáš Režný, Denis Šefara, and Jiří Cabal. “Effect of Traffic Noise and Relaxations Sounds on Pedestrian Walking Speed.” National Library of Medicine, April 14, 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5923794/.
Frąckiewicz, Marcin. “The Future of Smart Cities with AI and Smart Noise Management Systems.” TS2 SPACE, 2023. https://ts2.space/en/the-future-of-smart-cities-with-ai-and-smart-noise- management-systems/.
Kjellberg, Anders. “Subjective, Behavioral and Psychophysiological Effects of Noise.” Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health 16 (1990): 29–38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40965841.
Söderlund, Göran, and Sverker sikström. “Positive Effects of Noise on Cognitive Performance: Explaining the Moderate Brain Arousal Model.” Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet, January 15, 2010. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A285537&dswid=561.
Mehta, Ravi, Rui Zhu, and Amar Cheema. “Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition.” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 4 (December 1, 2012): 784–99. https://doi.org/10.1086/665048.
Mydlarz, Charlie, Mohit Sharma, Yitzchak Lockerman, Ben Steers, Claudio Silva, and Juan Pablo Bello. 2019. "The Life of a New York City Noise Sensor Network" Sensors 19, no. 6: 1415. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19061415
Meadows, Donella. “Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System.” The Academy for Systems Change, April 5, 2012. https://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/.
Manolis. “How City Noise Pollution and Sounds Affect Our Health.” Soundhealing.gr, February 18, 2022. https://www.soundhealing.gr/how-city-noise-pollution-and-sounds-affect-our-health/.
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene." New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, No. 45, Apr. 2014.
NYC Health. “Noise.” NYC Health. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/noise.page.
Thomas Münzel,1,* Tommaso Gori,1 Wolfgang Babisch,2 and Mathias Basner3. “Cardiovascular Effects of Environmental Noise Exposure.” National Library of Medicine, April 1, 2014. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3971384/.
Wellington, Ben. “Mapping New York’s Noisiest Neighborhoods.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2015, www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/mapping-new-york-noise-complaints.
Sound credits:
Coffee Shop Sound: By soundslikewillem. https://freesound.org/people/soundslikewillem/sounds/264347/
Traffic Sound: By vialgames. https://freesound.org/people/vialgames/sounds/613142/
Construction Sound: By InspectorJ. https://freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/400991/