Anthropogenic noise variation in Indian cities due to the COVID-19 lockdown during March-to-May 2020

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of a nationwide lockdown enforced during March-to-May 2020 to prevent the widespread transmission of COVID-19 on the local anthropogenic noise level variation in Indian cities. To this end, data obtained from the National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network (NANMN) was used to analyze the long-term daily evolution of average day- and night-time levels at selected locations across seven major cities. The results indicate that when the strict lockdown phase 1 was declared, all industrial (I), commercial (C), and residential (R) zones experienced either a gradual or sudden decrease in noise levels while the silence (S) zone was unaffected. Depending on the zone, the weekly trend graphs reached a minimum either during phase 1 or conditionally relaxed phase 2. Across I, C, and R zones, the average maximum day- and night-time reduction with respect to the pre-lockdown period ranged from 4 to 13.8 dB(A) and 4 to 14.1 dB(A), respectively. As anticipated, with a gradual ease in restrictions from phase 2 onwards, the levels climbed back almost linearly, and during unlocks, the daily variation resembled the pre-lockdown trend. Furthermore, the responses to an online COVID-19 noise perception survey supported the NANMN results and suggested that the lockdown was quieter.