ABSTRACT
Mapping is a useful tool to aid the design and planning process. For strategic planning at a larger spatial scale, the European Environmental Noise Directive (END) requires Lden and Lnight maps to be drawn. However, these only consider noise sources, especially traffic noise sources, and they are often not well related to people’s perception of the acoustic environment. This chapter presents some mapping techniques based on recent research, including sound mapping, which shows sound-level distribution considering more source types, both positive and negative, rather than just traffic noise; soundscape mapping based on human perception of sound sources; soundscape mapping developed using artificial neural networks (ANNs), which show people’s perception; psychoacoustic mapping and mind mapping; and mapping of noticed sounds. There are also a number of other soundscape mapping techniques, such as soundscape topography (Boubezari et al., 2011; Boubezari and Bento Coelho, 2012). The chapter also describes how a map of sounds that are likely to be noticed by the users of the space can be constructed from the knowledge of the sonic environment as a tool both for understanding the soundscape composition and for design.
