SOUNDSCAPING OF SAMPLING POINTS WITHIN UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, EKEHUAN CAMPUS

ABSTRACT

Soundscapes sometimes stated as a simple collection of individual sounds, has the primary objective of maintaining proper sounds at the right levels in the right places at the right times. This study assessed the spatial noise levels within the University of Benin, Ekehuan Campus, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. The spatial noise levels at each point was assessed using a digital sound level meter. The sampling points were visited once weekly for four weeks. The spatial maps were developed using the inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation technique available in the ARC GIS 10.8 software. The mean values ranged from 63.7dB to 83.9dB for the sampling points visited within the first week of sampling. For the second week, the mean values ranged from 59.7dB to 88.2dB for the sampled locations. For the third week, the mean noise level values ranged from 61.8dB to 84.9dB. For the fourth week, the mean values ranged from 58.7dB to 89.9dB. There was a significant difference in grouped mean noise values at p >0.05. The noise maps show that the western regions of the sampled area are more susceptible to the health risk associated with noise exposures due to the high concentration of noise. Noise control measures are recommended in order to safeguard the health of individuals.