This lecture will be about the science of acoustics, the study of sound, in relation to urban environments such as cities.
这个讲座是关于声音科学的，也就是研究声音的，并且与都市环境比如说城市联系了起来。
As an acoustic engineer myself, I think this is an area where we're likely to see great changes.
作为一个声学工程师，我认为这是一个可能将见证巨大变化的领域。
In the past, researching urban soundscapes was simple.
过去，声景研究是很简单的。
We measured levels of sound in decibels, so I used to take my sound meter and I measured the noise somewhere,
我们以分贝来度量声音水平，所以我过去常拿着测声计去测某个地方的噪音水平，
and then I might ask a sample of people to say at what level the sound became annoying.
然后我会问一部分样本人群：什么级别的声音会让人厌烦。
With data like this, acoustic engineers have been able to build up what we call noise maps, maps of the sound environment.
有了这类数据，声学工程师们已经能绘制出起我们所说的噪音地图，即声音环境的地图。
But actually these aren't a lot of use.
不过实际上这东西用得不多。
What they do show is that the highest noise levels are generally on roads - well, that's not really very surprising.
声音地图只不过显示出最高级别的噪音大体上是出现在马路上，然而这并没有什么稀奇。
But there's quite a lot going on that these maps don't show, because they can't capture the complex way that sound varies over time.
不过有很多地图上没有显示的事情在发生，因为声音地图不能掌握声音随时间变化的复杂方式。
So they ignore important issues such as the noise someone might hear from the open windows or gardens of their neighbours,
所以它忽略了一些重要的方面，比如说某人从邻居家开着的窗户或者花园里听到的噪声，
and this sort of noise can be quite significant in summer.
这种噪声在夏天可能相当明显。
We don't have any databases on this sort of information.
关于此类信息我们没有任何的数据库。
As well as that, these records of sound levels take no account of the fact that people vary in their perceptions of noise
此外，声音水平的记录并没有考虑到人们对噪音的感知不同的事实，
so someone like me with years of working in acoustics might be very different from you in that regard.
所以像我这样有多年声学工作经验的人，在这方面跟你们就可能有很大不同。
But anyway, even though these noise maps are fairly crude,
但是不管怎么说，即使这些噪声地图是相对笼统的，
they've been useful in providing information and raising awareness that noise matters,
它们在提供信息和提高意识方面还是很有用的，它们让人们意识到要把噪声当个事儿，
we need to deal with it and so it's a political matter.
我们得处理好它，因此这是一个政治问题。
And that's important - we need rules and regulations because noise can cause all sorts of problems.
这一点是很重要的，我们需要相关的规则和条令，因为噪声可能会引起各种各样的问题。
Those of you who are city-dwellers know that things go on 24 hours a day, so city-dwellers often suffer from interrupted sleep.
你们中的城市居民应该知道有的事情一天24小时都在进行，所以城市居民经常会遭受睡眠中断的困扰。
It's also known that noise can lead to a rise in levels of stress,
众所周知，噪音会导致压力的上升，
due to physical changes in the body affecting the composition of the blood.
这是因为身体变化影响了血液成分。
And there are other problems as well, for instance if schoolchildren don't have a quiet place to study, their work will suffer.
此外，噪声还带来了其他问题，比如说如果学龄儿童没有一个安静的学习环境，他们的学业就会遭殃。
Now one problem with decibel measurement is that it doesn't differentiate between different types of noise.
当下，以分贝数度量噪声水平的一个问题在于它没有区分开不同类型的噪声。
Some types of sounds that most people would probably think of as nice and relaxing might well score quite highly in decibel levels
有些类型的声音，大多数人可能都认为是悦耳、放松的，但是其分贝数可能相当高，
think of the sound made by a fountain in a town square, for example.
比如说城市广场上喷泉发出的声音。
That's not necessarily something that we'd want to control or reduce.
那些不一定是我们想要控制或降低的声音。
So maybe researchers should consider these sorts of sounds in urban design.
所以，在城市规划中，研究者们或许应该考虑这些种类的声音。
This is going to be tricky because just measuring decibel levels isn't going to help us here.
这很复杂，因为仅仅测量分贝数在这种情况下并没有什么用。
Instead, many researchers are using social science techniques,
很多研究者转而应用社会科学方法，
studying people's emotional response to sound by using questionnaires and so on.
通过问卷调查等方式研究人们对于声音的情绪反应。