Eina has participated in the research project Soundlights, an urban innovation initiative funded within the framework of “The Proactive City” 2023. Soundlights is an initiative by BIT LAB Cultural and Pompeu Fabra University.
This project addresses the issue of urban noise pollution by proposing a distributed noise sensor system that, through advanced artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, will empower the community to make decisions that improve citizens' quality of life.
The sensor network will not be limited to measuring sound pressure in decibels; it will also use advanced AI techniques to identify specific sound sources, enabling more precise monitoring of the sound environment.
Eina’s participation has been structured through the Emerging Research Group on Design, Health and Well-being, led by Professor Salvador Huertas and the centre’s Director of Innovation and Business, Javier Nieto Cubero. The project included the participation of a team of students and alumni: Ines Abad, Sara Acebuche, Maria Carreras, Oriol Egea, Javier Gonzalez, Lara Hernansanz, Alex Martin, Laura Mitjavila, Lluc Pellicer, Anaïs Salmeron, Guillem Solans, and Elena Tzanova, who took part in an initial ideation session to generate different conceptual workstreams. From this first phase, two proposals were selected and further developed over two months, mentored by the Research Group on Design, Health and Well-being, resulting in the following projects:
Snitch by Lara Hernansanz and Guillem Solans
A smart device that monitors noise pollution in cities, adapting to the environment by changing colour based on the detected decibel levels. When the noise reaches excessive levels, the device opens and turns off to alert of the danger, projecting information onto the ground in low-light conditions. Additionally, it connects to an interactive web platform where citizens can check real-time noise levels through the Sound Map or their Acoustic Aura. Snitch promotes greater collective and individual awareness of urban noise pollution.
Sonoriza’t by Maria Carreras and Laura Mitjavila
An interactive project that encourages citizen participation as a driving force in raising awareness about noise pollution. It uses image distortion as a strategy to visualise the concept of noise, and through gamification and interaction, it fosters engagement and dissemination, generating sound maps for each neighbourhood—moving from the individual to the collective level.
