Assessment of the effectiveness of noise reduction programs at production sites using digital equipment diagnostic systems and their impact on biodiversity and population health

Abstract

The study aims to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of noise reduction programs at oil and gas production sites during the transition from passive protection measures to proactive management of noise-generating sources using digital equipment diagnostic systems. The goal is to determine to what extent the integration of vibroacoustic monitoring and predictive analytics simultaneously reduces acoustic load, improves staff health, and promotes biodiversity recovery. Materials and methods included a three-year quasi-experiment at three typical Western Siberian production sites (2020–2023): one control site and two experimental sites implementing an integrated platform aggregating data from more than 300 vibroacoustic sensors and a network of 25 class-1 sound level meters, as well as medical monitoring (n=1250) and field surveys of birds and small mammals. Correlation-regression and variance analysis, paired t-tests, and relative risk calculation were applied. Results show reductions in equivalent noise levels at key facilities: compressor stations −14.53%, main pumping units −14.00%, oil treatment plants −10.19%, drilling rigs −8.61%, gas turbine power stations −13.32%, with an average improvement of over 12% without capital noise protection structures. The predictive diagnostics system identified an increase in pre-failure states (28→39→47 in 2021–2023), accompanied by a twofold increase in the number of prevented extreme events (>110 dBA) and an economic effect of up to 76.9 million rubles per year due to avoided downtime. Environmental indicators in surrounding areas improved: density of passerine birds +25.4%, birds of prey +33.3%, small mammals +13.7%, indicating the restoration of natural acoustic signals and trophic links. Medical outcomes per 1000 workers improved: newly diagnosed sensorineural hearing loss decreased from 11.4 to 4.3 (≈2.7 times), complaints of fatigue and stress −45.2%, short-term disability 7.9→6.1 days; regression analysis established that −1 dBA is associated with −0.6 cases of occupational diseases and +1.3% bird density. Conclusion: digital noise reduction programs demonstrate proven multidomain effectiveness and should be scaled up; limitations relate to equipment fleet heterogeneity and meteorological confounding, while future prospects include integration with emission control systems and expansion of AI models.