Characterization of urban sound environments
Modelling, noise sensors network and open data

End of the project on 31/12/2021

Since January 1, 2017, the actors of the CENSE project, supported by the City of Lorient, have implemented an ambitious research on the development of a new approach for the characterization of urban noise environments. After 5 years of activity, corresponding to the financial support of the National Research Agency, the project ends with many results, but also new perspectives... It is thus the end of the project in this form, but all the partners are mobilized to develop new projects and continue the research initiated by CENSE.

General public valorization

The CENSE Project

Urban noise reduction is a societal priority. In this context, the European Directive 2002/49/EC aims at producing strategic noise maps for large cities. However, nowadays the relevance of such maps is questionable, due to considerable uncertainties, which are not quantified. Conversely, the development of noise observatories provides a more realistic description of the sound environment, but at the expense of insufficient spatial details and a significant cost. Thus, the CENSE project aims at proposing an new methodology for the production of more realistic noise maps, based on an assimilation of simulated and measured data through a dense network of low-cost sensors. Beyond the production of physical indicators, the project is also positioned on the characterization of sound environments. CENSE is a resolutely multidisciplinary project, bringing together experts from environmental acoustics, data assimilation, statistics, GIS, sensor networks, signal processing and noise perception.