Richard B. Primack/Special to the Tab
Webster Woods can be a surprisingly noisy place, with the roar of cars and trucks on the Hammond Pond Parkway, trains along the Riverside line, and airplanes overhead.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the woods have become quieter.
“We can measure the change, and you can hear the difference too, particularly in the middle of the woods,” said Carina Terry, a recent graduate of Boston University who helped lead a study of the effects of the pandemic on noise pollution in the Boston area.
Impacts of noise pollution
Noise pollution from cars, trucks, and airplanes reduces the ability of parks to provide quiet environments for people to enjoy and habitat for wildlife.
As pandemic lockdowns went into effect in March 2020 and millions of Americans began working from home rather than commuting to offices, heavy traffic in
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IMAGE: Boston University biologists Richard Primack and Carina Terry are pictured here collecting noise samples at Hall s Pond Sanctuary in Brookline, Massachusetts. view more
Credit: Photo courtesy of Richard Primack
As pandemic lockdowns went into effect in March 2020 and millions of Americans began working from home rather than commuting to offices, heavy traffic in America s most congested urban centers like Boston suddenly ceased to exist. Soon afterwards, the air was noticeably cleaner. But that wasn t the only effect. A team of Boston University biologists who study how human-related sounds impact natural environments seized the opportunity to learn how the reduced movement of people would impact local ecosystems. They found surprisingly that sound levels increased in some nature conservation areas, a result of cars driving faster on roads no longer choked by traffic.