Experimental study on enhancing pedestrian efficiency and crowd safety with regular sound under open boundaries

• Published in: Journal of statistical mechanics 2024-10, Vol.2024 (10), p.103401
• Main Authors: Fu, Zhijian, Wei, Pengchen, Chen, Cheng, Luo, Lin, Yuan, Zhilu, Li, Jian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: traffic and crowd dynamics
• ISSN: 1742-5468; 1742-5468
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-5468/ad7a66

We empirically investigated the impact of regular sound on planar pedestrian movement in open boundary environments, a rarely studied topic. Participants walked to regular sound with different tempos (70 BPM vs. 100 BPM) and types (monotone vs. periodic ‘tick-tack’ rhythm). We found that regular sounds at 100 BPM, close to the normal walking pace, improve pedestrian efficiency. They reduce passing time by 8.41% and increase average flow by 9.50%. This efficiency enhancement is lower compared to single-file experiment with periodic boundaries, where reaching a high-density jammed phase is easier. Additionally, this efficiency enhancement from sound is reduced by unstable step synchronization under open boundaries and turning behavior. Regular sound significantly improves crowd safety in turning areas, where congestion levels (Cls) and crowd danger (Cd) are highest. Cls decrease by 8.27% with the 100 BPM monotone, and Cd decreases by 19.1% with the 100 BPM periodic rhythm. Operationally, regular sounds at 100 BPM can be used to guide pedestrian flow smoothly and effectively in crowd management.