Eco-Acoustic Indices to Evaluate Soundscape Degradation Due to Human Intrusion

Roberto Benocci, Giovanni Brambilla, Alessandro Bisceglie and Giovanni Zambon
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Roberto Benocci: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy
Giovanni Brambilla: CNR-INM Department of Acoustics and Sensors “O.M. Corbino”, via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy
Alessandro Bisceglie: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy
Giovanni Zambon: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-19

Abstract: The characterization of environmental quality and the detection of the first sign of environmental stress, with reference to human intrusion, is currently a very important goal to prevent further environmental degradation, and consequently habitat destruction, in order to take appropriate preservation measures. Besides the traditional field observation and satellite remote sensing, geophonic and/or biophonic sounds have been proposed as potential indicators of terrestrial and aquatic settings’ status. In this work, we analyze a series of short audio-recordings taken in urban parks and bushes characterized by the presence of different human-generated-noise and species abundance. This study aims to propose a tool devoted to the investigation of urban and natural environments in a context with different soundscape qualities, such as, for example, those that can be found in urban parks. The analysis shows the ways in which it is possible to distinguish among different habitats by the use of a combination of different acoustic and sound ecology indices.

Keywords: soundscape indices; human intrusion; cluster analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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