Underwater noise is one of the most widespread threats to the world oceans. Its negative impact on fauna is nowadays well established, but baseline data to be used in management and monitoring programs are still largely lacking. In particular, the acoustic assessment of human-impacted marine coastal areas provides complementary information on the health status of marine ecosystems. The objective of our study was to provide a baseline of underwater noise levels and biological sounds at two sites within the Gulf of Naples (Italy), one of which is located in Bagnoli-Coroglio, a Site of National Interest (SIN) for its high contamination levels. Within the SIN, sounds were recorded both before and during sediment coring activities (vibrocorer sampling), in order to investigate the potential acoustic impact due to such operations. Acoustic recordings were analyzed following the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive indications as defined in the frame of the Descriptor 11. Results reported here show that the investigated area is characterized by a high anthropogenic noise pressure. Ambient noise levels were principally driven by shipping noise and biological sounds of invertebrates (e.g., snapping shrimps). Sounds referable to other biological activity were difficult to detect because heavily masked by shipping noise. Coring activity determined a substantial introduction of additional noise at a local spatial scale. This study expands underwater noise baseline data to be further implemented in future monitoring programs of coastal areas affected by anthropogenic impacts. In addition, it proposes new cues for using underwater acoustic monitoring tools to complement traditional methodologies for evaluating health status of ecosystems and for investigating recovery rates after restoration/reclamation programs.

水下噪声是对世界海洋最广泛的威胁之一。如今，它对动物群的负面影响已得到充分证实，但仍大大缺乏用于管理和监测计划的基准数据。特别是，对受人类影响的海洋沿海地区的声学评估提供了有关海洋生态系统健康状况的补充信息。我们研究的目的是提供那不勒斯海湾（意大利）内两个地点的水下噪声水平和生物声音的基线，其中一个地点位于巴格诺利-科罗格里奥，这是一个国家级关注点（SIN），污染水平。在SIN内，在沉积物取芯活动之前和期间（振动取芯取样）都记录了声音，以便调查这种操作可能引起的声音影响。根据在描述符11框架中定义的《欧洲海洋战略框架指令》指示对声音记录进行了分析。此处报告的结果表明，所调查的区域具有较高的人为噪声压力。环境噪声水平主要是由运输噪声和无脊椎动物的生物声音（例如，snap虾）引起的。难以检测到与其他生物活动有关的声音，因为运输噪声严重掩盖了声音。取芯活动决定了在局部空间尺度上大量引入额外的噪声。这项研究扩展了水下噪声基线数据，将在受人为影响的沿海地区的未来监测计划中进一步实施。此外，