The Pathways project undertook an ambitious one-year measurement campaign of community noise pollution in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), Ghana from 2019-2020. This campaign also included measurements of air pollution at 146 diverse locations in the city representing high-traffic locations, high-density residential, commercial, industrial, governmental, medium-density residential, low-density residential, and peri-urban areas. Measurements were conducted for either weeklong periods (rotating sites) or for an entire year (fixed sites).

Measurement locations

Urban sound levels were measured continuously on the decibel scale (A-weighted, dBA) with handheld sound level meters (Convergence Instruments, Canada). The sound level meters were deployed in a custom designed weather protective enclosure at ~4 meters off the ground.

More information on the measurement campaign can be found in the open access peer-reviewed protocol paper Clark et al. BMJ Open. 2020 or from the Pathways project blog.

Field work and data collection