Citywide modeling and mapping of environmental sound exposure in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Environmental noise is an increasingly urgent environmental health concern in rapidly growing megacities, yet fine-scale spatial data remain scarce in low- and middle-income cities. We developed the first citywide, spatially explicit estimates of environmental sound exposure for Dhaka city proper, the capital of Bangladesh, using long-duration measurements from 67 monitoring sites across the city and land-use regression models. Land-use regression models were developed for average 24-h (LA_eq24h), daytime (L_day), nighttime (L_night), and day-evening-nighttime (L_den) sound levels, with predictors selected through a forward stepwise regression and performance evaluated using cross-validation. Model performance was strong across metrics (cross-validated R² = 0.66-0.72; RMSE = 3.4-4.3 dBA). Proximity to major transport corridors and vegetation cover (NDVI) explained much of the spatial variability, reflecting the dominance of traffic-related sources within a dense and highly congested urban environment. Predicted sound levels were elevated across Dhaka during both day and night. Modeled estimates suggest that the vast majority of Dhaka residents, approximately 12 million people, are exposed to outdoor sound levels exceeding the World Health Organization-Europe Region traffic guidelines (L_night: 45 dBA and L_den: 53 dBA), and an estimated 0.9 million residents are exposed to sound levels >70 dBA, a threshold for noise-induced hearing loss. These findings demonstrate pervasively high environmental sound exposure across Dhaka, and provide an empirical basis for urban noise management, policy evaluation, and future epidemiologic research in rapidly urbanizing megacities.