IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p7857-d593933.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Eco-Acoustic Assessment of an Urban Park by Statistical Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Roberto Benocci

    (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy)

  • H. Eduardo Roman

    (Department of Physics, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 3, 20126 Milano, Italy)

  • Alessandro Bisceglie

    (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy)

  • Fabio Angelini

    (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy)

  • Giovanni Brambilla

    (CNR-INM, Department of Acoustics and Sensors “O.M. Corbino”, via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, 00133 Rome, Italy)

  • Giovanni Zambon

    (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126 Milano, Italy)

Abstract

We investigated the statistical properties of the sounds recorded at a site located in the Parco Nord of Milan, Italy, characterized by wooded land rich in biodiversity and exposed to different sources and types of anthropogenic disturbances with the aim of deriving information on its environmental quality in terms of biophonic presence and athropic disturbance. A time series of eco-acosutic indices were determined for 616 audio files recorded from 30 April 2019 (5:00 p.m.) to 3 May 2019 (5:00 a.m.) with a 1-min duration followed by a 5-min pause (10 recordings per hour). In the present study, the following indices were computed: the Acoustic Complexity Index (ACI), Acoustic Diversity Index (ADI), Acoustic Evenness Index (AEI), Bio-acoustic Index (BI), Acoustic Entropy Index (H), Normalized Difference Soundscape Index (NSDI) and Dynamic Spectral Centroid (DSC). Cluster analysis performed on the corresponding time series yielded a dimensional reduction from seven down to three. The results show a clear separation of the eco-acoustic indices into two clusters, reflecting the different dynamics and diversity behaviour throughout the recordings. A post-processing aural survey was also performed, aiming at determining biophonic activities (mainly avian vocalization and other animals), the characteristics of technophonies sources (mainly road traffic noise and airplane fly-overs), human presence (voices and steps) and geophonies (rain and wind). The statistical analysis proved to be a robust tool due to the good matching obtained with the aural survey outcomes. The overall quality of the Parco Nord phonic activity was found to be low. Notwithstanding the presence of avian species, highlighted by the characteristic dawn chorus, both clusters revealed low “scores” of NDSI and DSC indices heavily influenced by road traffic sources. This study represents the first step toward the realization of maps of eco-acoustic indices for the long-term monitoring of fragile habitats.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Benocci & H. Eduardo Roman & Alessandro Bisceglie & Fabio Angelini & Giovanni Brambilla & Giovanni Zambon, 2021. "Eco-Acoustic Assessment of an Urban Park by Statistical Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7857-:d:593933
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7857/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7857/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brock, Guy & Pihur, Vasyl & Datta, Susmita & Datta, Somnath, 2008. "clValid: An R Package for Cluster Validation," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 25(i04).
    2. Roberto Benocci & Giovanni Brambilla & Alessandro Bisceglie & Giovanni Zambon, 2020. "Eco-Acoustic Indices to Evaluate Soundscape Degradation Due to Human Intrusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Patrick Zschech & Kai Heinrich & Raphael Bink & Janis S. Neufeld, 2019. "Prognostic Model Development with Missing Labels," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 61(3), pages 327-343, June.
    2. Anahita Nodehi & Mousa Golalizadeh & Mehdi Maadooliat & Claudio Agostinelli, 2025. "Torus Probabilistic Principal Component Analysis," Journal of Classification, Springer;The Classification Society, vol. 42(2), pages 435-456, July.
    3. Gainbi Park & Zengwang Xu, 2022. "The constituent components and local indicator variables of social vulnerability index," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 110(1), pages 95-120, January.
    4. Ana Alina Tudoran, 2022. "A machine learning approach to identifying decision-making styles for managing customer relationships," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(1), pages 351-374, March.
    5. Wu, Han-Ming, 2011. "On biological validity indices for soft clustering algorithms for gene expression data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 1969-1979, May.
    6. Drago, Carlo & Fortuna, Fabio, "undated". "Investigating the Corporate Governance and Sustainability Relationship: A Bibliometric Analysis Using Keyword-Ensemble Community Detection," FEEM Working Papers 336985, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    7. Wu, Tong & Rocha, Juan C. & Berry, Kevin & Chaigneau, Tomas & Hamann, Maike & Lindkvist, Emilie & Qiu, Jiangxiao & Schill, Caroline & Shepon, Alon & Crépin, Anne-Sophie & Folke, Carl, 2024. "Triple Bottom Line or Trilemma? Global Tradeoffs Between Prosperity, Inequality, and the Environment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    8. Titov Sergei & Trachuk Arkady & Linder Natalya & RD Pathak & Danny Samson & Zafar Husain & S Sushil, 2023. "Digital transformation enablers in high-tech and low-tech companies: A comparative analysis," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 48(4), pages 801-843, November.
    9. Volodymyr Melnykov & Xuwen Zhu, 2019. "An extension of the K-means algorithm to clustering skewed data," Computational Statistics, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 373-394, March.
    10. Sara Dolnicar & Friedrich Leisch, 2017. "Using segment level stability to select target segments in data-driven market segmentation studies," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 423-436, September.
    11. Lynde Tan & Russell Thomson & Joyce Hwee Ling Koh & Alice Chik, 2023. "Teaching Multimodal Literacies with Digital Technologies and Augmented Reality: A Cluster Analysis of Australian Teachers’ TPACK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-15, June.
    12. Valentina Zaffaroni-Caorsi & Oscar Azzimonti & Andrea Potenza & Fabio Angelini & Ilaria Grecchi & Giovanni Brambilla & Giorgia Guagliumi & Luca Daconto & Roberto Benocci & Giovanni Zambon, 2025. "Exploring the Soundscape in a University Campus: Students’ Perceptions and Eco-Acoustic Indices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-20, April.
    13. Humphreys, John M. & Srygley, Robert B. & Lawton, Douglas & Hudson, Amy R. & Branson, David H., 2022. "Grasshoppers exhibit asynchrony and spatial non-stationarity in response to the El Niño/Southern and Pacific Decadal Oscillations," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 471(C).
    14. Carmen Llorente-Barroso & María Sánchez-Valle & Mónica Viñarás-Abad, 2023. "The role of the Internet in later life autonomy: Silver surfers in Spain," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, December.
    15. Guiomar, N. & Godinho, S. & Pinto-Correia, T. & Almeida, M. & Bartolini, F. & Bezák, P. & Biró, M. & Bjørkhaug, H. & Bojnec, Š. & Brunori, G. & Corazzin, M. & Czekaj, M. & Davidova, S. & Kania, J. & K, 2018. "Typology and distribution of small farms in Europe: Towards a better picture," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 784-798.
    16. Bongiorno, Christian & Miccichè, Salvatore & Mantegna, Rosario N., 2022. "Statistically validated hierarchical clustering: Nested partitions in hierarchical trees," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 593(C).
    17. Roberto Benocci & Giovanni Brambilla & Alessandro Bisceglie & Giovanni Zambon, 2020. "Eco-Acoustic Indices to Evaluate Soundscape Degradation Due to Human Intrusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-19, December.
    18. Bulut, Tevfik, 2025. "Classifying the WHO European countries by noncommunicable diseases and risk factors," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    19. Trudie Strauss & Michael Johan von Maltitz, 2017. "Generalising Ward’s Method for Use with Manhattan Distances," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Konstantinos Gratsos & Stefanos Ougiaroglou & Dionisis Margaris, 2023. "kClusterHub: An AutoML-Driven Tool for Effortless Partition-Based Clustering over Varied Data Types," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7857-:d:593933. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.