The effects of visual landscape and traffic type on soundscape perception in high-rise residential estates of an urban city

Abstract

In dense urban cities with high-rise estates where large population of residents live in close proximity, the increasing noise exposure in soundscapes due to traffic noise, construction and other undesirable anthropophony in urban lived environments may cause adverse effects on the wellbeing of residents. In this study, soundscapes around such urban spaces are investigated using Singapore as a case study. This study aims to discover the current conditions of soundscapes around such spaces and whether traffic and landscape features have a sizeable effect on soundscape perception, as well as to develop a predictive model using soundscape indicators based on acoustics, psychoacoustics, and audio features. The results show that the soundscapes in the selected urban city’s heartlands are generally dominated by traffic (40%) and biophonic (36%) sources. This study identifies the significant effects of both traffic conditions and landscape features that affect soundscape perception. A predictive model is developed based on identified objective indicators and an alternate method to derive the total mask duration of positive sound events. The visibility of roadways and vehicles correlates negatively with soundscape perception and reaffirms the effects of road visibility on noise annoyance. However, light traffic conditions do not adversely affect the soundscape perception as compared to heavy traffic, suggesting tolerance for light traffic by the participants in residential settings. Thus, the present study recommends that urban planners should take into consideration the type of traffic infrastructure when planning residential developments.