"Sons al Balco": Empowering Citizens in Assessing Urban Soundscapes and Quiet Zones

"Sons al Balco" emerged as a citizen science initiative amidst the constraints of lockdown and has since evolved into a powerful platform dedicated to engaging individuals in the evaluation of urban soundscapes and the advocacy for tranquil zones in residential areas. The project revolves around the creation of an intuitive web interface that empowers citizens to upload brief video clips capturing their local environments. Accompanying these visuals are subjective questionnaires designed to evaluate the impact of sound and noise on their daily lives. The platform harnesses the capabilities of advanced audio analysis techniques to automatically identify and distinguish positive and negative acoustic occurrences in urban settings. This enables the precise identification of noteworthy sound events, offering invaluable insights into the dynamics of urban soundscapes. Furthermore, through state-of-the-art computer vision algorithms, the platform identifies and categorizes predefined objects within the videos, such as plant life, traffic signals, individuals, and vehicles. This methodology enables a comprehensive assessment of the urban environment, bridging the gap between objective detection and the subjective perceptions of citizens. By amalgamating both audio and visual data, "Sons al Balco" nurtures a holistic understanding of the impact of noise on the well-being of citizens. It empowers individuals to voice their concerns and actively participate in the identification of quiet zones that prioritize health and enhance the quality of life. Beyond its data generation aspect, this citizen science endeavor facilitates direct collaboration between researchers and the local community in each city where it is implemented. Through "Sons al Balco," citizens are positioned as key actors in the transformation of their urban surroundings and in influencing decisions pertaining to urban planning and noise-related policies.