Smartphones, a tool for noise monitoring and noise mapping: an overview

Nowadays, environmental noise pollution is recognized as a major public health concern in big cities around the world. Therefore, it has been of great interest to measure the amount of noise that populations are exposed to as well as its evolution through time. In this work, citizen participation in noise sensing by using their smartphones as sound level meters is discussed. Specifically, relevant studies about this technique are described in the context of urban noise monitoring and noise mapping. There seems to be more studies supporting the use of smartphones for this matter. However, the authors have identified a series of limitations regarding proper calibration of the apparatuses, poor microphone response, and the not-utter control of the behavior of participants, among others. Despite this, the progress observed in this field suggests that there are high possibilities to continue working successfully toward the generation of quality noise maps by means of smartphones as sound sensors.