Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown events and policies that followed, led to significant changes in the built environment and how it is experienced by people and communities. Among those, variations in the acoustic environments were some of the most noticeable in cities. This study investigated...

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Autores principales:	Francesco Aletta, Timothy Van Renterghem
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	environmental noise noise perception soundscape cycling public space survey Medicine R
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/aa46d05589b641bf8cd4e9eeac64a9b8
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:aa46d05589b641bf8cd4e9eeac64a9b8
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:aa46d05589b641bf8cd4e9eeac64a9b82021-11-25T17:48:15ZAssociations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium10.3390/ijerph1822117741660-46011661-7827https://doaj.org/article/aa46d05589b641bf8cd4e9eeac64a9b82021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/11774https://doaj.org/toc/1661-7827https://doaj.org/toc/1660-4601The COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown events and policies that followed, led to significant changes in the built environment and how it is experienced by people and communities. Among those, variations in the acoustic environments were some of the most noticeable in cities. This study investigated the relationships between the perception of the acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and different personal factors such as attitudes towards the pandemic and noise sensitivity, by performing a survey with 109 participants in an urban green public space in Antwerp (Belgium), shortly after most restrictions issued by the government were lifted in September 2020 when the first contamination wave ended. While preliminary in nature, the results of this data collection campaign show that people actively changing their behaviors (using less public transport or cycling more) assessed the soundscapes as less vibrant/exciting. People who were more concerned about the pandemic tended to notice more natural sounds and noise from traffic on nearby local roads. This same subset also put a bigger importance on the environmental quality of the public space than in the pre-pandemic period. Noise sensitivity also played a role, as an association was found between more-than-average noise sensitive persons and those more worried regarding the pandemic. Overall, the findings of this study confirm that at least part of the people have started to perceive the public space, including its soundscape, differently since the start of the pandemic.Francesco AlettaTimothy Van RenterghemMDPI AGarticleenvironmental noisenoise perceptionsoundscapecyclingpublic spacesurveyMedicineRENInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 18, Iss 11774, p 11774 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	environmental noise noise perception soundscape cycling public space survey Medicine R
spellingShingle	environmental noise noise perception soundscape cycling public space survey Medicine R Francesco Aletta Timothy Van Renterghem Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium
description	The COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown events and policies that followed, led to significant changes in the built environment and how it is experienced by people and communities. Among those, variations in the acoustic environments were some of the most noticeable in cities. This study investigated the relationships between the perception of the acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and different personal factors such as attitudes towards the pandemic and noise sensitivity, by performing a survey with 109 participants in an urban green public space in Antwerp (Belgium), shortly after most restrictions issued by the government were lifted in September 2020 when the first contamination wave ended. While preliminary in nature, the results of this data collection campaign show that people actively changing their behaviors (using less public transport or cycling more) assessed the soundscapes as less vibrant/exciting. People who were more concerned about the pandemic tended to notice more natural sounds and noise from traffic on nearby local roads. This same subset also put a bigger importance on the environmental quality of the public space than in the pre-pandemic period. Noise sensitivity also played a role, as an association was found between more-than-average noise sensitive persons and those more worried regarding the pandemic. Overall, the findings of this study confirm that at least part of the people have started to perceive the public space, including its soundscape, differently since the start of the pandemic.
format	article
author	Francesco Aletta Timothy Van Renterghem
author_facet	Francesco Aletta Timothy Van Renterghem
author_sort	Francesco Aletta
title	Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium
title_short	Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium
title_full	Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium
title_fullStr	Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium
title_full_unstemmed	Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium
title_sort	associations between personal attitudes towards covid-19 and public space soundscape assessment: an example from antwerp, belgium
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/aa46d05589b641bf8cd4e9eeac64a9b8
work_keys_str_mv	AT francescoaletta associationsbetweenpersonalattitudestowardscovid19andpublicspacesoundscapeassessmentanexamplefromantwerpbelgium AT timothyvanrenterghem associationsbetweenpersonalattitudestowardscovid19andpublicspacesoundscapeassessmentanexamplefromantwerpbelgium
_version_	1718412004677386240

Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium

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