A widened array of metrics (WAM) approach to characterize the urban acoustic environment; a case comparison of urban mixed-use and forest

•Ecoacoustic indices and dB(A) compare contrasting 28-day urban mixed-use and forest cases.•Data analysis includes mean hour-of-day, 7- and 28-day time series, and correlation plots.•Results find BIO, NDSI, ACI indicate biophony in forests and M, AR, Ht anthrophony in mixed use.•Multiple index ‘indicator groups’ can screen for biophony presence or absence.•NDSI and BIO bias is reduced when sites analyzed separately, indicates biophony masking.