How did the pandemic affect the sounds of the city? What happens when the noise generated by man is reduced? These issues will be discussed by participants of the international Silent Cities project including Dr Krzysztof Deoniziak from the Faculty of Biology of the University of Bialystok (UwB).

UwB is the only Polish university which carries out such measurements under this initiative. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions on human activity have reduced noise levels. This in turn creates a unique opportunity to listen to the cities that sound completely different during the pandemic.

The Silent Cities project was initiated by scientists from France and Great Britain. Its purpose is to collect recordings from different parts of the world to learn about the sounds of the surroundings, which are normally drowned out by urban noise.

Analysis of recordings will allow to determine changes in the relationship between animal (e.g. birdsong) and anthropogenic sounds (e.g. communication noise), as well as the relationship between the functioning of social and economic spaces and the level of anthropogenic noise – explains Dr Deoniziak.