Changes in the soundscape of Girona during the COVID lockdown
Rosa Ma Alsina‐Pagès, Pau Bergadà, Carme Martínez-Suquía
Abstract
The lockdown measures in Spain due to COVID-19 social measures showed a wide decrease in the urban noise levels observed. This paper presents an analysis of the noise levels in Girona, a 100 000 citizen city in the North-East of Catalonia (Spain). We present the LAeq levels in four different locations from January 2020 to June 2020, including all the stages of the lockdown. Several comparisons are conducted with the monitoring data available from the previous years (2019, 2018, and 2017, when available). This analysis is part of the project “Sons al Balcó,” which aims to draw the soundscape of Catalonia during the lockdown. The results of the analysis in Girona show drastic LAeq changes especially in nightlife areas of the city, moderate LAeq changes in commercial and restaurants areas, and low LAeq changes in dense traffic areas.