Audio-visual tools as support for urban sound planning policies

For urban sound planning policies, several tools are considered as support to the decision. Noise maps elaborated with traffic and fixed sources emission and propagation models represent the basic level of information. They permit to evaluate areas and the number of people that are overexposed during day and night and consequently they can help in the formulation of action plans to reduce the noise impact. A network of sensors distributed inside the urban context can be a second level of information. Receiving more real data on the variability of the sound can help in elaborating noise control activities in certain areas. However, these tools lack the judgment and feedback received from the people. This information is fundamental for a human centered urban sound planning strategy. In this paper it is presented the potentiality of the combined use of 360-degree video, that recently has become popular for the representation of the space, and 3D ambisonic audio-recording which permits high quality reproduction. With this combination it is possible to build-up urban audio and visual maps that can configurate better the reality and that can involve more efficiently policy makers and inhabitants in the whole process of the evaluation and planning.