LIVING WITH THE PANDEMIC: REFLECTIONS ON THE URBAN SOUND CONSEQUENCES OF 2 YEARS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/noise/html

CALL FOR PAPERS:

Throughout the past two years, numerous studies have been published chronicling the impacts to urban noise arising from the COVID-19 pandemic across the world. The rapid and unprecedented actions taken to restrict the spread of the virus have led to substantial changes in the urban sound environment and in how individuals and communities use and relate to their surroundings. In the initial wave of research – and due to concerns on conducting research with human participants – the focus was on documenting these changes through short-term noise monitoring and mapping, socio-acoustic surveys, and the collation of public data such as noise complaint reports. The time is ripe to look back on these two years of pandemic, taking a longer view on how people were affected and what lessons can be drawn from this unique time moving forward.
This special issue aims to reflect the wide array of impacts that the COVID-19 related health measures have had on the sound environment, both from a physical and an experienced perspective. We welcome submissions which make use of monitoring data, qualitative approaches, as well as novel approaches to noise mapping with a particular focus on under-reported areas, long-term measurements, and social impacts. Examples of encouraged topics are:

Comparisons of noise climate impacts through various lockdown conditions

Mapping the variety of soundscape changes across cities and across the world, both indoors and outdoors

Novel approaches to mapping the human responses to the pandemic sound conditions