Locate your soundscape: interacting with the acoustic environment.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Acoustics
• Human Perception

Background:

• Soundscapes significantly influence environmental perception, often unconsciously.
• Acoustic environments are shaped by a complex stratification of sound sources.
• Understanding soundscapes is crucial for environmental studies and human experience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel framework for archiving, browsing, and accessing soundscape data.
• To enable remote and on-site exploration of acoustic environments.
• To leverage crowdsourcing for large-scale soundscape data collection.

Main Methods:

• Development of a web-based interface for uploading and searching sound recordings with metadata (geolocation, timing, context).
• Creation of a mobile application for interactive map-based and GPS-guided browsing and listening to soundscapes.
• Implementation of two crowdsourcing initiatives: one focused on Padua's soundscape and a nationwide experiment during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Main Results:

• Successful establishment of a soundscape archive through crowdsourcing efforts.
• Demonstration of the framework's capability to capture detailed acoustic environment information.
• Observation of significant changes in Italy's national soundscape during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Conclusions:

• The proposed framework provides a robust system for managing and accessing soundscape data.
• Crowdsourcing is an effective method for populating soundscape archives and studying environmental acoustics.
• The study highlights the dynamic nature of soundscapes and their sensitivity to major societal events like lockdowns.