A Study on the Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Soundscape Perception in Landscape Spaces of Urban Greenways

Abstract

The acoustic landscape directly affects people’s perceptual experience, which is crucial to enhancing urban greenways’ visibility experience. This study analyzed data from three typical urban greenways in Fuzhou City. By classifying and combining the landscape space into two levels of “enclosure–coverage”, the space was categorized into six types: covered, uncovered, open, semi-open, semi-enclosed, and enclosure space. We explored the characteristics of soundscape perception and the factors affecting the evaluation of soundscape perception in different landscape spaces. The results showed that differences in sound sources between day and night led to differences in the soundscape of different spatial types. The sound pressure level decreased with an increasing degree of enclosure and coverage. The evaluation scores of sound source perception and soundscape perception were significantly different in different degrees of spatial enclosure and coverage, where the open space and covered space were the most sensitive to sound, and the open space played a positive role in enhancing the harmony of the artificial sound. Pleasantness and richness were the main factors influencing overall perception, contributing 50% and 17%, respectively. Visitors’ age, residence type, and visit frequency were the main factors affecting the evaluation of soundscape perception. The conclusions provide a reference and data for improving urban greenways’ soundscape quality.