Noise pollution dropped 50% due to pandemic-related shutdowns: study

Finding a silver lining amidst all the doom, seismologists discovered that the Earth became 'unusually silent' thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. Studying records from seismic stations across the world, experts were able to map a 'wave that spread from China to other countries across the world. Data was recorded from a network of 268 seismic sensors spread across 117 countries which included high-frequency noise and vibrations caused by industries, traffic and other such human activities. A massive 50 per cent dip in human activity related noise was observed, with the steepest decline in New York and Singapore. 'The quietening is unprecedented, at least as far as we can go back in time with continuous seismic data,' Thomas Lecocq, first author on the study published in the journal Science said.