Evaluación de la contaminación acústica en la zona urbana de la ciudad de Azogues

Abstract

The noise in the urban zone of Azogues city was monitored from October to November 2014 and from January to February 2015 in 52 points which were determined on based on a geographical demarcation of the study area using grids to perform the analysis in each one of them. With the monitoring of noise, the geographic coordinates of each point and the traffic flow were also measured. The monitoring of all of these variables was made in considering peak hours: 07:00 am to 09:00 am, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, and 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The noise levels were determi¬ned with an integrating sound level meter and the measuring time was 30 minutes for each locality. A Geographic Information System was used for the noise maps in which all data measurements were processed. The noise maps showed that the places located in the downtown area, North-east, and North-west of the city, as well as, the areas near the Panamericana Sur, are the most affected, with noise levels above 60 decibels. These values are attributed to the high vehicular movement, where the registered flow is greater than 100 vehicles during the 30 minutes of monitoring. A first diagnosis of noise pollution generated in the city of Azogues was obtained with the elaboration of these acoustic maps.