While searching for some point features, I came across an interesting set of data collected by the OpenBangalore team on noise levels in select streets of Bangalore. It appeared to have been recorded continuously throughout these streets, giving the person viewing/ interpreting the data a contiguous understanding of sound levels throughout the streets of Bangalore.

The image below sourced from a construction company’s report gives one an understanding what range of sound is acceptable as normal to residential areas.

While urban residences are expected to be at 50db, one would see that most of the recorded spaces actually surpass the 70-80db mark.

To one who is familiar with the city, they would see patterns of lower volumes in areas, around lakes, and parks; locations in the city where there is a high density of trees that are good acoustic absorbents. Some continuous stretches of road have a high decibel value, which I would hypothesize is due to the reverberation of sound on cement walls and -fences that lines most roads in Bangalore. Many government-owned lands and private properties are barricaded from the public realm and the streets with high walls. In some locations, these walls can stretch for as long as a kilometer or more, causing streets to become corridors for reverberating sound. This has a severe impact on people on the road exposed to the sounds; commuters on bikes, autos, cycles, and pedestrians.

Multiple studies have shown the dangers of such high levels of noise pollution, and more citizen initiatives to mark their neighborhoods would enable academics, and city officials to study, and take measures to reduce sources of sound pollution.