Finding the Quietest Place Around: Arduino and Sound Sensors (Part 1)

After moving to a new studio, I found that there is a lot of noise around Wangjing Soho. Delivery riders are honking their horns anxiously, the sounds of metal cutting from the renovations at the shopping mall across the street are continuous, and the busy traffic, with pedestrians and cars crossing paths, often produces honking sounds.

So I looked up information about noise pollution and discovered that noise can be very harmful to animals (it interferes with their communication, especially their orientation and courtship). Some websites even say that noise pollution can affect human hearing, lifespan, and is linked to cardiovascular diseases… I think some of this might be alarming, but I couldn’t find any supporting or opposing evidence right away.

Regardless, sometimes it’s nice to be able to rest in a quiet environment.

This is the origin of this small research project. I was wondering if it’s possible to find a relatively quiet place in such a busy area like Wangjing Soho, where many companies are gathered.

Feel your surroundings with sound, let us “follow the quiet”

Using a sound sensor, #Finding the Quietest Place Around

1. Stop and take 5 minutes to feel

2. What do you hear?

3. What do you not hear?

This time we are using

Arduino

Sparkfun SEN-12642 Sound Sensor

This sensor is relatively sensitive and responds to even small sounds (I previously used a cheaper one that required shouting to get a response). The code is straightforward; just connect it to the analog pin, adjust the code, and you can see the readings, making it very convenient for testing and research. Highly recommended!

LCM12864 Shield

The LCM12864 shield can be optionally used (you need to download U8glib into the Arduino library).

BTW, for those who are interested in trying it out (experts, please ignore):

1. After connecting the sensor (envelope to v0)

2. In Arduino IDE –> File –> Examples –> Basics –> AnalogReadSerial

3. You can directly see the readings in the “Serial Monitor”; the higher the reading, the louder the sound.

For fun and convenience, I built a model for the sensor.

3D Printing

Assembly!

Now that everything’s ready…

I took the device and wandered around (this time the range was set to the public areas of Wangjing Soho).

l

Spot 1

The lounge area on the south side, I thought would be relatively quiet, but it turned out to be quite lively.

Spot 2

Spot 3

Spot 4

I recorded four places, and some relatively quiet places were not as absolutely quiet as I initially imagined, yet there were also some interesting discoveries.

What can we do about this…

(To be continued)

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