Quietness in the soundscape of the Białowieza National Park

Abstract

The quietness, defined as the near or complete absence of sound, in the context of the natural environment protection, may be considered a state in which no undesired of foreign sounds occur, and, by analogy to noise, analyzed in two aspects: that pertaining to measurements and the subjective one. The article discusses the lowest levels of sounds recorded at night in the soundscape of the Białowieza Forest. Due to low levels of the examined sounds and the technical problems that occurred while the sounds were being measured and registered, the acoustic examination of the measurement set-up in an anechoic chamber has also been presented. The research is aimed at defining precisely the concept of quietness prevailing in the nature in the subjective aspect by determining both the range of levels and the characteristics of preferred sounds.