Open Access. © 2021 Y. Yildirim and M. Aref, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License Noise Mapp. 2021; 8:108ś115 Research Article Yalcin Yildirim* and Mahyar Aref Noise complaints during a pandemic: A longitudinal analysis https://doi.org/10.1515/noise-2021-0008 Received Dec 14, 2020; accepted Jan 28, 2021 Abstract: COVID-19 has afected people’s lives in diferent ways from reduced mobility and staying-at-home orders to other daily life routines. These changes have, in turn, afected the quality of life in urban environments including air quality and noise. The noise aspect, for example, sug- gests quieter environments due to fewer vehicles on streets, and less human activities. On the other hand, staying at home may cause more activities happening at the build- ing level, i.e., more people in buildings may make more noise for neighbors. In order to understand this nexus, the study examines the noise complaints data in Dallas, USA. To do this, the study frst compares the noise complaints after the COVID-19 intercourse and the same data period in 2019. Findings surprisingly show reduced noise complaints during the COVID-19 time frame by about 14% compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. The majority of this reduction occurred in and around the city center. In other words, the noise complaints seem more spatially dispersed at the out- skirts of the city. Another fnding that directs more detailed analyses, however, considers the massive reduction of rid- ership, trafc circulation, and building permits. This needs some other techniques for determining the sources for in- commensurate noise complaints. Keywords: COVID-19, noise complaints, 311 data, city center, suburbs 1 Introduction Once ofcially identifed, the frst COVID-19 case in China rapidly spread all over the world. With the frst case re- ported on January 20 th , the government declared a public health emergency at the end of January 2020. An immediate application of a number of international restrictions and *Corresponding Author: Yalcin Yildirim: Bursa Technical Univer- sity, Department of Landscape Architecture, Bursa, 16310, Turkey; Email: yalcin.yildirim@btu.edu.tr Mahyar Aref: Jundi Shapur Technical University, Dezful, Iran controls ensued national-level actions, including testing and travel restrictions. After announcing the strict COVID Act in March 2020, though the U.S. did not mandate lock- down, regional and local ofcials considered several reac- tions, i.e., canceling large gatherings, stay at home orders, and school closures. Fewer commutes as well as reduced outdoor human activities and witnessing new urban lifestyles, travel behav- iors, and home-bound adaptations were associated with other observations such as the cleaner air quality, and noise reduction in the built environment. Staying at home al- lows people to have more time for various activities such as watching TV, listening to’ loud music, workout activ- ities, home repairing, kids’ play, etc. Thus, while trafc- related and other outdoor anthropogenic activities may re- duce noise complaints, staying at home may increase other forms of noise. Consequently, the prolonged COVID-19 era has stimulated noise complaints for various reasons. In order to understand the direct linkage between COVID-19 and noise complaint requests, this study has culled and analyzed them from March through December 2020, and has compared the same sourced noise complaints with the same period last year. 2 Related studies 2.1 COVID-19 and Noise Several studies have examined the relationship between the unpredicted COVID-19 outbreak and noise from various aspects. Perhaps as a pioneer study in examining noise dur- ing the COVID-19, Aletta et al. created a trafc simulation that represented noise pollution in Rome, Italy [1]. Their fndings report almost 65% reduction in both trafc and noise emissions during the lockdown [1]. Pagès et al.’s [2] study in the same location and Milan examined the efects of the COVID-19 on trafc and non-trafc noise activities by using the DYNAMAP system. To do this, the authors com- pared the same noise events in the same period of time in 2019. Aletta et al. [3] collected soundscape assessments from 11 locations in London before the 2019 lockdown, and