UCL wins at the ‘Noise Oscars’ for its research in global soundscape standards

The Noise Abatement Society (NAS) is a UK charity whose aim is to share a better understanding of what sound is, how it affects us and how we can solve noise problems and improve soundscapes in a pragmatic and sustainable way to relieve the physical and mental distress caused by excessive noise. Each year the NAS recognises expert work on the advancement of soundscape principles in line with ISO Soundscape Standards and their practical ‘real world’ applications.

The 20^th annual John Connell Awards 2022 took place in Westminster last week and a team of researchers from University College London including Dr Francesco Aletta, Prof Jian Kang, Dr Tin Oberman and Dr Andrew Mitchell (alongside associated #SATP partners (globally)) were awarded for their work on standardising the measurement of people’s responses to the experience of an acoustic environment. 

Soundscape assessment is a challenging undertaking. While the ISO Soundscape Standards are published in English and French, the lack of additional translations constitutes a major barrier to making soundscape practices more inclusive and mindful of cultural differences and aural diversities. The solution for which the UCL team has been recognised is to create a worldwide collaboration of over 50 experts translating ISO soundscape descriptors into 19 languages including Arabic, German, Croatian, Japanese, Greek and Chinese.

Gloria Elliott OBE, NAS CEO said:

“Congratulations to University College London for their leadership of the ‘Soundscape Attributes Translation Project’ a significant global collaboration which will better enable the ISO Soundscape Standards to be utilised Worldwide.

Links:

• The ‘Noise Oscars’ - https://noiseabatementsociety.org/campaigns/john-connell-awards/
• The Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering’s work on ‘Soundscape Indices - https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/researchActivity/26101
• The Noise Abatement Society - www.noiseabatementsociety.org

Photo credit: Courtesy of The Noise Abatement Society