Soundscape perception in a shifting context—Lessons from COVID-19

Abstract

The ISO-12913 standards acknowledge the primacy of context in perceiving acoustic environments. In soundscape assessments, context is constituted by both physical surroundings and psychological, social, and cultural factors. Many studies have found that people assess soundscape perception similarly in comparable physical surroundings (such as urban parks) despite differing individual associative contexts. However, studies at the Berlin Wall Memorial historic site have shown that providing historic contextual information to study participants can shift their soundscape perception away from the generalized baseline. The COVID-19 lockdown measures enacted in 2020 in Germany dramatically altered user activity in the memorial landscape, introducing a new environmental and behavioral context. Building on previous investigations at the memorial, this paper investigates what effect the restrictions had on the soundscape context and its perception by visitors. Informal interviews paired with comparative measurements indicated that expectations and perceptions shifted for local stakeholders in this new context. Perceived silence by visitors did not match measurements, and tourist absence affected perception for local users. This holds repercussions for soundscape and heritage site designs serving multiple populations with divergent expectations and perceptions. The impacts of soundscape assessments being neither static nor generalizable across stakeholders are discussed with suggestions for further research.