URBAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACOUSTIC MONITORING: DETECTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF SOUND EVENTS USING AN ARDUINO MICROCONTROLLER

Abstract

Noise pollution remains one of the main environmental challenges in urban and natural areas, directly affecting population well-being and the ecological balance. Given the need for accessible tools to monitor and understand the dynamics of environmental noise, this article presents the development of a low-cost acoustic monitoring prototype based on the Arduino Uno platform. The system operates in a hybrid manner (analog and digital), capturing ambient sound through a microphone and applying physical and computational filtering for calculating sound intensity (RMS). The interface includes LEDs in green, blue, yellow, and red, representing different intensity ranges, while high-level alerts are recorded via serial communication for later analysis. The adopted methodology consisted of experimental tests conducted in controlled and outdoor environments, evaluating the stability, component response, and consistency of the measurements. The results demonstrate good relative accuracy, continuous operation, and immediate visual interpretation of sound levels, reinforcing the potential of the device as an educational tool and as support for environmental monitoring. It is concluded that the prototype presents an accessible, functional, and technically viable solution, with potential for improvement and application in various urban and ecological scenarios.