A study of the perception of urban noise in city of Porto, Portugal

An extensive psychoacoustic survey was conducted recently in the city of Porto in order to investigate the perception of the city's population (natives, including separate groups for residents and workers, and tourists) regarding the sound quality of urban open spaces. The locations selected for this study are representative of different urban environments (urban form and activities) and noise/sound sources that can be found in the city. Each questionnaire took about 7 to 10 minutes to complete and was filled by the interviewers on a electronic device (tablet) with the pollster present. It contained questions about demographic data, satisfaction with the city, noise sources, noise annoyance and perceived effects of noise on human health. During the entire period of the psychoacoustic survey to acknowledge the citizens acoustic perception, and simultaneously, were performed noise measurements in the same area if influence. Later, there is a comparison of results considering the subjective interpretation provided by the questionnaires and the simultaneous measurements. Variables selection methods and traditional regression methods were used to assess objective and subjective measures in the perception and interpretation of the quality of urban environments. The applications of this methodology intends to detect particular characteristics either of the noise sources or the public open spaces that may relate with dominant answers of the respondents. Consequently, the outcomes of this study will be able to help the municipality to improve the acoustic quality of some urban open spaces, not only considering the nature of the activities developed in those areas, but also the refurbishment of those spaces, namely, improving its acoustic characteristics or creating new urban soundscapes.