Soundscape experiences of vulnerable groups in the pandemic and post-pandemic era: Acoustic environments are diverse but not inclusive

Abstract

People perceive sound environments in diverse ways. Experiencing substantial changes in soundscapes due to disruptions of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was relatively adaptable for some people but painfully unacceptable for other people, especially physically, mentally, or socially disadvantaged persons (i.e., vulnerable groups). This talk presents soundscape experiences of those vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlights their adverse and heterogeneous perceptions to the pandemic-related changes in acoustic environments. Reviewing a collected COVID-19 pandemic-related studies shows that people from socially vulnerable groups found their surrounding soundscapes detrimental and bothersome. Highly heterogeneous experiences of the acoustic environments were observed among people with atypical hearing characteristics such as hearing impairments and tinnitus. While extreme acoustic environments (i.e., being in silence or exposed to excessive noise) were found as unfavorable for all listeners, there are too many non-auditory confounding factors influencing the soundscape experiences in their real-life situations. The findings would advance knowledge on their diverse auditory experiences and support resilient post-pandemic soundscapes for broader individuals, which will potentially contribute to designing inclusive sound environments for human well-being.