As landscape architects, our projects typically begin with a comprehensive site analysis that includes environmental, demographic, and spatial considerations. To date noise measurements have largely been absent from this processes.

Sun path analysis throughout different times year help us determine the opacity of our shade structures and their density, and to determine what kinds of plants will thrive where.

We analyze soils to determine what’s hazardous and might need to be hauled away. What kind of program and structures that soil can support, and what kind of amendments might need to be brought in to support the activities and materials we have planned.

We look to census data for demographic patterns, and speak with users to understand their aspirations and concerns, and we study transportation and migration networks in order to understand who is able to access our site, where they are coming from and how they are arriving.

With all of this, it’s come to our attention that relatively little attention, if any, is given to sound in these early stages of a project.  We’re looking to change this paradigm.   We’ve written about the impacts of noise pollution. This short guide is intended to introduce a few tools that can help with the how. 

We’ve started to fold these strategies into the early stages of our site analysis process in order to better equip our office with an understanding of the aural environments that we’re shaping.   We do this in support of our commitment to neuro-inclusive design, which necessitates we as designers consider a full spectrum of experiences and sensitives.

Sound sensitives are so closely linked with any number of divergent neurological and mental health conditions we urge our colleagues to consider adopting some or all of the following into their site analysis:

• DOT Noise Maps – These maps provide an overview of noise pollution from the big three: aviation, roads, and railways. While helpful, be warned these have limitations.   We’ve encountered missing rail data, and more broadly these purely quantitative representations fail to capture the subjective experience of noise.
• AudioMoth – This open-source acoustic monitoring device helps us map the unique aural clock of a site.   Set to record for 10 seconds every hour for a week we’re able to generate a 28 minute sonic summary.   By capturing both persistent and periodic sounds, we gain insights into how noise levels and quality vary of the course of an average day, from the calm of dawn to the chaos of rush hour. This allows us to start to think about how we can design and program our spaces to work with, or mitigate these sounds.
• DecibelX  – This smartphone app is a convenient way to measure noise levels with your phone’s built in microphone. By recording periodic sounds like sirens or trains alongside more persistent noises like HVAC systems or highway traffic, we’ve been better  able to understand the highly variable and subjective nature of sound. Decibel levels alone don’t determine whether a noise is pleasant or disruptive; context matters. A fountain in a picturesque park setting can be just as loud as the traffic on a highway overpass, but the experience of these different aural environments cannot be further apart.
• Soundwalks  – Following the ISO 12913 soundscape standards, we conduct soundwalks to move beyond simple noise measurements and explore the human experience of sound. These guided walks and questionnaires have fostered meaningful discussions in our office and with community members, helping us design spaces that engage, respect and enhance their acoustic environments.