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Noise perception map of hotels in Montañita, Ecuador

Abstract:

The study shown in this article aims to develop a noise map of the community of Montañita, located in Santa Elena, Ecuador, based on some hotel managers´ subjective perception. These types of buildings were selected as targets due to their constant exposure to the high levels of noise originating from commercial and entertainment activities, as well as traffic from the Spondylus route. Survey123 was used for data collection, which allowed the research team to prepare questionnaires and send the georeferenced answers to a database for future analysis. 41 hotels from the community were surveyed in order to obtain information about the building features, noise perception levels and possible noise emitters. Similarly, local and foreign tourists were surveyed, to assess their acoustic comfort experience. The results indicate that the main noise emitters are night establishments, which are located in the central area of the community and stay opened past the hours allowed (i.e. Thursdays to Saturdays from 12h00 to 03h00). Furthermore, it was found that vehicular traffic is a high noise pollutant that affects hotels located close to the Spondylus route. Our study also showed that most of the hotels were not built to mitigate the noise from the surrounding areas, and hotel managers have little knowledge about design criteria that recommend the implementation of construction materials with acoustic insulation properties, that can provide comfort to tourists and eventually encourage sustainable building practices in the area.