Preliminary comparison of soundscape preferences in community public spaces between the individuals with visual impairment and with normal vision

Abstract

Hearing is an important way for the visually impaired to perceive the environment, and the visually impaired have a different preference for urban soundscape than those with normal vision. Therefore, understanding the differences in the preference of the visually impaired and the normal vision to the urban soundscape will help to create a sound environment that is suitable for both of them, so as to enhance the inclusiveness of the urban environment. This study took the community public spaces as the typical urban environment research object, and used the Evaluation Grid Method (EGM) to conduct semi-structured in-depth interviews on soundscape preferences of 20 visually impaired individuals and 25 individuals with normal vision. By sorting out the interview results, 18 soundscape attributes preferred by the visually impaired and 12 soundscape attributes preferred by the normal vision individuals were extracted. Through comparison, it was found that visually impaired individuals have richer descriptions and preferences of soundscape compared to those with normal vision, and the particularity of their preference is mainly reflected in its semantics and its promotion of spatial cognition of the visually impaired.