Monitoring changes in human activity during the COVID-19 shutdown in Las Vegas using infrasound microbarometers

Journal Article · Mon Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0003777· OSTI ID:1770860

Bird, Elijah J. ^[1]; Bowman, Daniel C. ^[1]; Seastrand, Douglas R. ^[2]; Wright, Melissa A. ^[2]; Lees, Jonathan M. ^[3]; Dannemann Dugick, Fransiska K. ^[1]

---

1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), North Las Vegas, NV (United States)
3. Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC (United States)

While studies of urban acoustics are typically restricted to the audio range, anthropogenic activity also generates infrasound (<20 Hz, roughly at the lower end of the range of human hearing). Shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic unintentionally created ideal conditions for the study of urban infrasound and low frequency audio (20–500 Hz), as closures reduced human-generated ambient noise, while natural signals remained relatively unaffected. An array of infrasound sensors deployed in Las Vegas, NV, provides data for a case study in monitoring human activity during the pandemic through urban acoustics. The array records a sharp decline in acoustic power following the temporary shutdown of businesses deemed nonessential by the state of Nevada. This decline varies spatially across the array, with stations close to McCarran International Airport generally recording the greatest declines in acoustic power. Further, declines in acoustic power fluctuate with the time of day. As only signals associated with anthropogenic activity are expected to decline, this gives a rough indication of periodicities in urban acoustics throughout Las Vegas. This study's results reflect the city's response to the pandemic and suggest spatiotemporal trends in acoustics outside of shutdowns.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
• OSTI ID: 1770860
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1773960
• Report Number(s): SAND-2021-2674J; 694592
• Journal Information: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 149, Issue 3; ISSN 0001-4966
• Publisher: Acoustical Society of America
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
acoustic waves
acoustic noise
acoustic signal processing
acoustic ecology
geophysics
acoustic phenomena
acoustic recording
Fourier analysis
diseases and conditions
anthropogenic