ArticleBiological conservation2021
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on noise pollution in three protected areas in metropolitan Boston (USA).
Article in Biological conservation, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A qualitative and quantitative synthesis of the impacts of COVID-19 on soundscapes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.The Science of the total environment · 2022Pooled it
- Assessment of Noise Exposure in United States Urban Public Parks: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Short-term analysis of urban noise dynamics during covid-19 lockdown using a machine learning approach in Mashhad, Iran.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A dataset of acoustic measurements from soundscapes collected worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific data · 2024Article
- Sons al Balcó: A Comparative Analysis of WASN-BasedSensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Lockdown's Silver Lining? Different Levels of Roadkill during the COVID-19 Times in Lithuania.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Experience Them, Love Them, Protect Them-Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Changed People's Perception of Urban and Suburban Green Spaces and Their Conservation Targets?Environmental management · 2022Article
- Remote work: Aircraft noise implications, prediction, and management in the built environment.Applied acoustics. Acoustique applique. Angewandte Akustik · 2022Review
- Drivers of avian habitat use and detection of backyard birds in the Pacific Northwest during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Sustainable development goals under threat? Multidimensional impact of COVID-19 on our planet and society outweigh short term global pollution reduction.Sustainable cities and society · 2022Article
- Investigating the current environmental situation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic: urban vs. rural context.BMC public health · 2022Article
- How the COVID-19 Pandemic Muted and Remixed the World's Acoustics for a While.Current pollution reports · 2022Review
- Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment.Biological conservation · 2021Article
- Indoor and outdoor noise changes due to the COVID-19 lockdown and their effects on individuals' expectations and preferences.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- The conservation and ecological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.Biological conservation · 2021Article
- COVID-19 pandemic drives changes in participation in citizen science project "City Nature Challenge" in Tokyo.Biological conservation · 2021Article
- Looking Through the COVID-19 Window of Opportunity: Future Scenarios Arising From the COVID-19 Pandemic Across Five Case Study Sites.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Noise pollution can reduce the ability of urban protected areas to provide a refuge for people and habitat for wildlife. Amidst an unprecedented global pandemic, it is unknown if the changes in human activity have significantly impacted noise pollution in metropolitan parks. We tested the hypothesis that reduced human activity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns would lead to reduced sound levels in protected areas compared with non-pandemic times. We measured sound levels in three urban protected areas in metropolitan Boston, MA (USA) at three time periods: in the fall and summer before the pandemic, immediately after the government-imposed lockdown in March 2020 when the trees were leafless, and during the beginning of reopening in early June 2020 when the trees had leaves. At all time periods, sound levels were highest near major roads and demonstrated a logarithmic decrease further from roads. At the two protected areas closest to the city center, sound levels averaged 1-3 dB lower during the time of the pandemic lockdown. In contrast, at the third protected area, which is transected by a major highway, sound levels were 4-6 dB higher during the time of the pandemic, likely because reduced traffic allowed vehicles to travel faster and create more noise. This study demonstrates that altered human levels of activity, in this case associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, can have major, and in some cases unexpected, effects on the levels of noise pollution in protected areas.
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