SoundPrint has a user-based community who play a vital role in raising noise and hearing health awareness through their “Find your Quiet Place” campaign, sound level measurements in visited venues.
Late last year, SoundPrint’s second annual “Find Your Quiet Place” (FYQP) Challenge concluded and data gathered makes interesting reading.
The campaign inspired participants to measure sound levels in their local communities to raise awareness about the quality of sound environments. During the event, participants made SoundChecks at over 2,000 unique venues worldwide.
Data showed pre-pandemic venues were mostly noisier
Here is what the sound level data gathered from across all venue categories worldwide shows levels rising again post-pandemic: 2022 (73.4 dBA), 2021 (70.0 dBA), Pre-pandemic (76.4 dBA)
Interestingly, the 2021 (76.4 dBA) and 2022 (76.5 dBA) sound levels for Restaurants remained roughly the same. According to Soundprint, this is the most significant and potentially positive trend where, restaurants may be adapting to a quieter world.
Is noise being managed better following the pandemic?
Soundprint believe this could be due to a combination of issues; lower background music, better table spacing and improved acoustic design. OR, venue managers simply being more sensitive to sound following the quiet of the pandemic.
Venues with unacceptably high noise and the most damaging for occupants’ health
Nightlife levels are still at elevated levels (81.5 dBA) and had a small increase over 2021 (80.9 dBA) but remain below pandemic levels (~83 dBA). The threshold by which sound levels endanger hearing health is 80 dBA. Despite these very high sound levels, such venues gather fewer noise complaints than restaurants and coffee shops and other venues.
Impact
SoundPrint’s SoundCheck’s user-based community plays a vital role in raising hearing health awareness through its users and their submissions of sound level measurements. According to SoundPrint, the user-community helps in three fundamental ways:
(1) Building out an evidence-based sound level database that helps benchmark annual sound levels to enable monitoring whether the world is getting quieter or louder.
(2) Discovering and promoting the quieter venues via SoundChecks measured as Quiet or Moderate and making recommendations that certain venues be added to SoundPrint’s Quiet List.
(3) Helping the public community locate and avoid noisier venues while putting venue managers and their employees on notice that the loud environment may jeopardize their hearing health. This is done via SoundChecks in venues that are Loud or Very Loud and making noise complaints on the SoundPrint app.
SoundPrint expect the 2023 FYQP Challenge to show continued participation increase as the pandemic’s impact gradually subsides. This will further enrich SoundPrint’s database and help raise hearing health awareness.
Great work Gregory Scott Farber founder of SoundPrint!
We look forward to seeing the future data and the sound environment gaining a stronger position in the public consciousness.
More info here
More info about the conversation challenges at restaurants, cafes & nightlife venues
More info about the data from all the venues
Interested in participating in this outstanding Sound print initiative?
free iOS app @soundprintapp that rates restaurants by how quiet or noisy they are – dubbed “Yelp for Noise”
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