Reductions in community noise levels in vancouver, Canada, during pandemic lockdown and association with land cover type

Xing Yu; Ingrid Jarvis; Zoë Davis; Matilda van den Bosch; Hugh Davies

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.117064

Reductions in community noise levels in vancouver, Canada, during pandemic lockdown and association with land cover type

Environ Res. 2023 Nov 15;237(Pt 2):117064. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117064. Epub 2023 Sep 1.

Authors

Xing Yu¹, Ingrid Jarvis², Zoë Davis³, Matilda van den Bosch⁴, Hugh Davies⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
² Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, The University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
³ Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, The University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada; School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne, Richmond, VIC, 3121, Australia; Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.
⁴ School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, Faculty of Forestry, The University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada; ISGlobal, Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Plaça de La Mercè, 10-12, 08002, Barcelona, Spain; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública, Av. Monforte de Lemos, 3-5, 28029, Madrid, Spain.
⁵ School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z3, Canada. Electronic address: hugh.davies@ubc.ca.

PMID: 37660874
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117064

Abstract

Background: Urban transportation noise is a major public concern because of its adverse effects on health. The determinants of urban noise exposure have not been widely explored but the "natural experiment" presented by the COVID-19 lockdowns presented a unique opportunity. This study examined the relationship between environmental characteristics and urban noise pollution during the COVID-19 related lockdown in Metro Vancouver, Canada, from March 21st to May 18th, 2020.

Methods: We used noise exposure data from the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) noise management program, comparing the noise levels during "Phase One" of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 to the corresponding time period in 2019 from 21 Noise Monitoring Terminals (NMTs) located throughout Metro Vancouver. We modelled the relationship between the change in noise level and the physical NMT environments, including land cover, and total length of roads at four different time periods (24Hr, daytime, evening and nighttime) and within three different buffer zones (100 m, 250 m, and 500 m).

Results: Of 59,472 hourly measurements of community noise, the 24-h noise level was reduced by an average of 2.20 dBA between 2019 and 2020. Higher proportions of greenspace, barren areas, and soil-cover around NMTs resulted in stronger noise reductions and higher density of building, pavement, and water weakened the amount of noise reduction. Proximity of high-volume traffic roads (highways) were associated with weaker noise reduction.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 related lockdown was associated with reduced noise in Metro Vancouver, and the relative reduction depended on the types of the environment surrounding the NMT. Future research on the effects of urban environmental characteristics on geographic inequality in noise levels and health consequences of the COVID-19 related lockdown is merited.

Keywords: COVID-19 related lockdown; Community noise; Land cover type; Noise policy; Noise reduction; Urban soundscape.