Required stabilization time, short-term variability and impulsiveness of the sound pressure level to characterize the temporal composition of urban soundscapes

Temporal composition of urban soundscapes is a very important aspect at the time of studying their description and perception. In urban agglomerations, environmental noise levels can vary over a wide range as a result of the great complexity of these settings, with considerable temporal and spatial heterogeneity. In addition, the presence of noisy sources, e.g. road traffic, commercial/leisure activities, construction works, etc., together with the appearance of sudden sound-level maxima (horn, sirens, vehicles with high traffic speed, etc.), very common in urban agglomerations, make the impulsiveness of the sound level very high in this type of environment. This will influence the time required for the noise levels to become steady, a key aspect for accurate measurement, interpretation and guarantee of a statistically representative sample of the urban soundscape. The goal of our research is to analyze the usefulness of the stabilization time, short-term temporal variability and impulsiveness of the sound pressure level in characterizing the temporal composition of urban soundscapes.