Towards Sustainable and Liveable Cities: Recent Advances in Noise Control Measures

This review analyzed scientific publications on noise pollution in 22 Arab countries from 1983 to 2022. The objective of this study was to assess the current state of research on noise pollution in the Arab world, identify trends and gaps in the literature, and subsequently formulate a thorough research agenda. A comprehensive search of the Scopus database was conducted using relevant search terms and inclusion criteria. Out of 249 results, 104 studies were selected. The data extraction from the 104 studies includes the country where the study was conducted/designed; the publication year; the journal of publication; sponsorship details; and the research methodology used. VOSviewer software (VOSviewer 1.6.18) was used to visualize the literature data and co-occurrence networks, collaborations, and research fronts. The analysis revealed that Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Kuwait were the most active countries in noise pollution research, while Sudan and Libya had the lowest number of publications in this field. Additionally, countries like Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and Mauritania had no publications on this subject. Research on noise pollution in this region mainly focuses on noise in urban zones and workplaces, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan. Topics vary across other Arab countries. The results highlight the increasing significance of noise pollution research in the Arab world, particularly evident in recent periods. However, scientific output from Arab countries remains significantly limited compared to other global contexts. This study emphasizes the pressing requirement for increased investment in noise pollution research, aiming to achieve knowledge of the acoustic situation in Arab countries in order to develop strategies to mitigate population exposure to noise pollution, improve the well-being of citizens, and protect public health. Full article

As sustainability is one of the main pillars in developing future cities, adopting natural ventilation whenever possible is one way to reduce energy consumption, thus indirectly reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Lately, ventilated acoustic metamaterials have started to receive more research attention because of how they can provide both ventilation and noise control. Motivated by this research attention, we present this timely systematic review of emerging ventilated acoustic metamaterials for noise control. By limiting the review to a five-year coverage (2018–2023), three kinds of ventilated acoustic metamaterials were identified—metamufflers, metapanels, and metacages. Based on the studies included in this review, we discuss the present challenges of metacages. More research efforts are still needed to see real-world applications of metacages as a novel ventilated noise control measure in the future. Full article