Urban noise measurements in the City of Buenos Aires during the mandatory quarantine

Abstract

During preventive and mandatory social isolation decreed by the Argentine National Government to contain the spread of COVID-19, the city of Buenos Aires has experienced a marked decrease in vehicular traffic. To study this new scenario, the Acoustic Impact Department of the Environmental Protection Agency carried out a series of uninterrupted urban noise measurements for one week in five measurement points. The results were compared with those obtained before quarantine and with the maximum permissible limits according to current legislation. Although considerable decreases in sound energy have been obtained, it was not possible to determine global values of noise level reduction since the results were of different magnitudes in each location and period.