Table 1.
Summary of the selected articles examining the auditory perceptual changes.
| Author(s) | Country | Objective | Pre-pandemic data | Sample | Gender Age |
Sampling | Other factors | Key findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Observational study employing human subjects | ||||||||
| Lee and Jeong (2021) | UK | To explore attitude of people towards noise inside their homes during the lockdown | 2019 | 183 residents | 52.5 % 36–50 |
Convenience sampling (Online survey, Smartsurvey pool) |
D, H | The perceived outdoor noise level decreased but perceived neighbor noise level increased during the lockdown. Tweets about noise complaints during the lockdown were more than twice of those before introduction of lockdown. |
| Chen et al. (2021) | China | To explore the direct association between people's perceptions of COVID-19 and psychological distress & the moderating role of neighborhood environment | – | 937 residents | 34.7 % 18–34 |
N/A (Nationwide survey) | D, P, IEQ, B | Living in a quiet neighborhood with sufficient sunshine and good indoor air quality is associated with lesser distress. Quiet and a well-maintained environment could reduce negative effects of long expected duration of COVID-19 on distress. |
| Amoatey et al. (2021) | Oman | To explore aircraft noise exposure levels, their annoyance, and potential health effects | 2018–19 | 1063 residents | 51.6 % 36.75 |
Convenience sampling (Online survey, email list) | D | Aircraft noise annoyance complaints among the As-Seeb residents during the pre-pandemic periods were reported to be extremely high reaching about 84 % compared to 41 % during this current pandemic period. |
| Andargie et al. (2021) | Canada | To explore perceived noise in multi-unit residential buildings and the consequent effects on occupants' well-being and productivity | 2019 | 471 residents | 52.0 % 21–39 |
Convenience sampling (Online survey, social media, webpage) | D, H | Perceived loudness and annoyance, particularly of indoor noise, have significant impacts on teleworking. Noise coming from occupants in the same suite (e.g., roommates and family) present the biggest issue. |
| Salamone et al. (2021) | Italy | To determine how the indoor environmental quality of residential spaces was perceived when working from home | – | 330 general workers | 44.0 % 36–45 |
Convenience sampling (Online survey, ISO website) | D, H, IEQ | The mean value of satisfaction for acoustic quality is the lowest value among the other IEQ factors. Acoustic quality is perceived as not very good (very quiet) and 44 % perceived an acoustic quality between slightly noisy and very noisy. |
| Puglisi et al. (2021) | Italy | To explore the subjective noise annoyance under the remote working settings | – | 1934 workers | 41.7 % 51–65 |
N/A | D, SP | The negative consequences of noise annoyance during the remote working hours are mainly related to a loss of concentration and to a difficulty in relaxing. Noise annoyance affects work productivity, mental health, and well-being not only in office settings but also in remote working settings. |
| Nassar (2021) | Lebanon | To investigate challenges faced by instructors & students in distance learning environments | – | 180 students/teachers | 41.1 % N/A |
Random sampling (Online survey) |
D | Noise distraction at home was mentioned as one of the numerous issues during their transition from conventional learning to e-learning, by both students and teachers. |
| Telli et al. (2021) | USA | To identify the perceived academic & environmental challenges & traumatic stress reactions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic | – | 130 students | 18.3 % 20.86 |
Convenience sampling (Online survey, email list) | D, P, H | Limited access to the quiet places to study was associated with greater traumatic stress, greater difficulty completing academic assignments. Students may experience heightened stress when faced with uncertain access to a quiet environment. |
| Qiu et al. (2021) | Australia | To explore how the interactive mechanism towards the perceived restorative characteristics of natural soundscapes | 2019 | 897 park visitors | 43.7–45.4 % 36–38 |
On-site random sampling | D, P | There are significant differences between the pre- and post-COVID-19 groups with respect to the relationships among the perceived restorative characteristics of natural soundscapes. The extensive and fascinating soundscapes in natural environments are particularly important for the post-COVID-19 group for their mental restoration process |
| Şentop Dümen and Şaher (2020) | Turkey | To explore the impact of the lockdown on noise annoyances due to traffic, neighbors, and personal dwellings | 2017 | 1021 | 30.0 % 35–45 |
Convenience sampling (Online survey, social media, webpage) | D, P, H | Environmental noise levels and annoyance due to the noise levels dropped significantly. Noise annoyance due to neighbor noise did not change significantly; however, noise annoyance due to one's own dwelling increased. |
| Torresin et al. (2021) | UK+ | To explore the impact of sound from building services in dwellings on the indoor soundscape at home | – | 848 workers | 46.7 % 30–32 |
Convenience sampling (Online survey, Prolific pool) | D, B | Less dominant sounds from building services while working from home were judged to be more appropriate for home working than those with more dominant sounds. |
| Caniato et al. (2021) | Italy+ | To investigate how the outdoor sound pressure level clearly decreased & how people reacted to the new unpredictable situation | – | > 1000 | N/A N/A |
N/A (International survey) | D, H | People had positive reaction to the lower noise level. This preference was generally not related to home typology or location in the city, but rather to a generalized wish to live in a quieter urban environment. |
| Retrospective study acquiring noise complaint datasets | ||||||||
| Tong et al. (2021) | UK | To explore how noise complaints changed during the first stages of the lockdown implementation (Spring 2020) Data: Government's data warehouse |
2019 | 43,186 records | N/A N/A |
N/A | D, H | During the COVID-19 lockdown the number of noise complaints increased by 48 %, compared with the same period during Spring 2019. The change rate of noise complaints was higher in areas with higher unemployment rates, more residents with no qualifications, and lower house price |
| Yildirim and Arefi (2021) | USA | To explore the direct linkage between COVID-19 and noise complaint requests Data: 311-dataset |
2019 | 4315 records | N/A N/A |
N/A | SP | Reduced noise complaints during the COVID-19 by 14 % compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. Most of this reduction occurred in and around the city center & the noise complaints seem more spatially dispersed at the outskirts of the city. |
Note: n = 14 studies selected from the 73 studies that have investigated auditory perceptual changes. Gender = (mean) percentage in male participants. +Multiple countries investigated. D = Demographic or sociodemographic; P = Psychological; H = Housing typological; IEQ = Indoor Environmental quality (e.g., thermal, light, air quality); SP = Spatial (e.g., distance from city center); B = Behavioral. The confounders that were statistically adjusted for are in boldface.