Natural Sounds Research Articles

Effects of Audio–Visual Interaction on Physio-Psychological Recovery of Older Adults in Residential Public Space

It is now well established that everyday interaction with nature has a restorative potential on the elderly population’s health and well-being. However, empirical evidence on the restorative effects of neighborhood greenspace is still lacking, and scant attention has been given to the cross-effect of the visual–audio experience. The present study examined the restorative effects of audio–visual interactions on older adults in typical residential public spaces in Chinese cities. A pretest–post-test design was used to measure changes in participants’ physiological responses, mood states, and mental restoration. Participants (mean age = 68.88 years) were asked to experience six simulated audio–visual conditions (3 scenes × 2 sounds) of residential public space. The results showed that: (1) A green scene combined with nature sounds showed the most restorative effect on the elderly participants’ psycho-physiological health. (2) Viewing green scenes facilitated the most psycho-physiological recovery for the elderly, followed by viewing the activity scene. (3) Compared to the traffic noise, adding nature sounds could promote many more benefits in HR recovery, positive mood promotion, and perceived restorative effects, and the advantage of nature sounds over traffic noise was mainly demonstrated in the green scene. (4) Visual scenes demonstrated a greater impact on the elderly participants’ psycho-physiological recovery than the sounds. Our findings suggested the necessity of providing residential nature and activity spaces, encompassing both sound and vision, to promote healthy aging in Chinese residential contexts.

Spontaneous emergence of rudimentary music detectors in deep neural networks

Music exists in almost every society, has universal acoustic features, and is processed by distinct neural circuits in humans even with no experience of musical training. However, it remains unclear how these innate characteristics emerge and what functions they serve. Here, using an artificial deep neural network that models the auditory information processing of the brain, we show that units tuned to music can spontaneously emerge by learning natural sound detection, even without learning music. The music-selective units encoded the temporal structure of music in multiple timescales, following the population-level response characteristics observed in the brain. We found that the process of generalization is critical for the emergence of music-selectivity and that music-selectivity can work as a functional basis for the generalization of natural sound, thereby elucidating its origin. These findings suggest that evolutionary adaptation to process natural sounds can provide an initial blueprint for our sense of music.

Multisensory processing and proprioceptive plasticity during resizing illusions.

Bodily resizing illusions typically use visual and/or tactile inputs to produce a vivid experience of one's body changing size. Naturalistic auditory input (an input that reflects the natural sounds of a stimulus) has been used to increase illusory experience during the rubber hand illusion, whilst non-naturalistic auditory input can influence estimations of finger length. We aimed to use a non-naturalistic auditory input during a hand-based resizing illusion using augmented reality, to assess whether the addition of an auditory input would increase both subjective illusion strength and measures of performance-based tasks. Forty-four participants completed the following three conditions: no finger stretching, finger stretching without tactile feedback and finger stretching with tactile feedback. Half of the participants had an auditory input throughout all the conditions, whilst the other half did not. After each condition, the participants were given one of the following three performance tasks: stimulated (right) hand dot touch task, non-stimulated (left) hand dot touch task, and a ruler judgement task. Dot tasks involved participants reaching for the location of a virtual dot, whereas the ruler task concerned estimates of the participant's own finger on a ruler whilst the hand was hidden from view. After all trials, the participants completed a questionnaire capturing subjective illusion strength. The addition of auditory input increased subjective illusion strength for manipulations without tactile feedback but not those with tactile feedback. No facilitatory effects of audio were found for any performance task. We conclude that adding auditory input to illusory finger stretching increased subjective illusory experience in the absence of tactile feedback but did not affect performance-based measures.

Effects of virtual reality and nature sounds on pain and anxiety during hysterosalpingography: a randomized controlled trial.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of listening to nature sounds alone and virtual reality plus listening to nature sounds on pain and anxiety in hysterosalpingography. This three-arm parallel randomized controlled trial included 135 (45 in each group) women who underwent hysterosalpingography in Turkey. The virtual reality+nature sounds group viewed a nature video with virtual reality glasses and listened to nature sounds during hysterosalpingography, whereas the nature sounds group only listened to nature sounds. The control group received only routine care. During hysterosalpingography, women in virtual reality+nature sounds group experienced less pain than those in control group (p=0.009). After hysterosalpingography, pain levels were lower in both virtual reality+nature sounds group and nature sounds group than in control group (p=0.000 and p=0.000, respectively), anxiety levels were lower in virtual reality+nature sounds group than in nature sounds group and control group (p=0.018 and p=0.000, respectively), and anxiety levels were lower in nature sounds group than in control group (p=0.013). Virtual reality with nature content plus listening to nature sounds and only listening to nature sounds are effective in reducing pain and anxiety related to hysterosalpingography procedures in women. Compared with only listening to nature sounds, virtual reality plus listening to nature sounds further reduced hysterosalpingography-related pain and anxiety.

AN IN-DEPTH EVALUATION OF URBAN SOUNDSCAPE PERCEPTION: IZMIR KONAK SQUARE

In urban design, another concept that gains importance as visual perception is auditory perception. To provide acoustic comfort in cities, these subjective perceptions should be investigated and known in depth. Soundscape has been used as a key method to improve sound quality in urban open spaces in recent years. Aim: The aim of the study is to show the importance of soundscape design in public spaces by investigating the perceptions of the soundscape and sound preferences of Konak Square users and the effects of demographic factors. Method: Within the scope of the study, the sounds in the field were examined by literature review and on-site observation, and survey scales were prepared accordingly. After the survey data were collected, frequency analyses and pairwise comparison tests were conducted. In addition, the equivalent continuous sound level (Leq) measurement was made in the field by using the smart mobile phone application together with the questionnaire. Results: It has been determined that all of the sound levels measured in the square are considerably higher than the sound limit values determined for a healthy environment. Conclusion: The results of this research confirm that the most preferred sounds in the square are natural sounds. Otherwise, the most disturbing sounds are the sounds originating from the traffic.

The essence of healing mind: healing correlation between forest and meditation poetry

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of Buddhist meditation poetry produced on the basis of forests and meditation on mental and physical healing. Forests are the source and home of life that mankind has enjoyed so far. So nature[forest] has the power of wisdom to bring man back to his true self. Especially, various phytoncides emitted from the forest, and the appearance and sounds of nature: mountain colors, birds, water, wind, etc. have the function of relaxing the five senses. Actually, interacting with the forest is not only a good way to find the meaning of "true self" but also calms down the complicated and unsettling heart of people. In this vein, the forest becomes the best space for mental and physical healing. Today, many people visit the forest and reflect not only on the “outside landscape” but also on the “inner scape” together. It is for this reason that they want to let go of greed for a while and heal the inner side through simplicity and emptiness of the forest. Therefore, the meditation poetry of Buddhist thought arising from the harmonious relationship between forest and meditation is one of the alternatives to overcome stress and promote a sense of solidarity of harmony, communication, empathy, contemplation and emptiness. It makes us realize that all things arise by dependence on something else. Furthermore, it will become a signature that allows future generations to dream of tomorrow and live a more positive life.

Phenomenon of Romeo Castellucci’s Direction: Aesthetics of the Metatheatrical Form of Destruction

The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the aesthetic theatre code of the Italian director Romeo Castellucci. Research methodology. The method of analysis and synthesis, the historical method, the method of systematic, genre-stylistic and art analysis is applied. Scientific novelty. Peculiarities of theatrical direction of the Italian director of the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century have been studied. R. Castellucci in the context of his activities in the theatre company "Societas Raffaello Sanzio"; based on the art analysis of R. Castellucci's productions, the master's aesthetic theatrical code was revealed; the concept of "destructive theatre" by R. Castellucci was analysed through the prism of levelling the established codes of classical drama. Conclusions. Mysterious plays staged by the Italian director Romeo Castellucci have captivated the audience for more than several decades. The master creates unique living paintings, which are usually based on classical and religious themes and invoke tectonic, elemental forces – impressive visual effects are usually accompanied by organic soundscapes, and sometimes unfold in quasi-mystical silence. The director's work methodology and his system of ideas form a unique and dynamic aesthetic language. R. Castellucci pursues a meta-theatrical form of destruction through which the body, text, sound, narrative, and language are subjected to permanent decomposition, which destroys the audience's usual expectations of what to see and feel in the theatre. The director's aesthetic theatrical code is based on: the actor's physical extremity; a strange sound world and a peculiar use of dramatic speech (for example, incomprehensible words, frightening sounds, whispers, breathing, shouts, etc.); the presence of real animals that make natural sounds on the theatre stage; cars are used as sculptural objects with symbolic meaning.
 Keywords: Romeo Castellucci, theatre direction, "destructive theatre", aesthetics, theatre code, European theatre.

ONOMOTOPEIA AS A MEANS OF EXPRESSIVENESS IN A GRAPHIC NOVEL: SOME NUANCES OF TRANSLATION

The article is devoted to onomatopoeia as a means of expressiveness in a graphic novel, to be precise, to the peculiarities of the translation of onomatopoeic words from French into Ukrainian. The purpose of the study is to find out the characteristic traits of onomatopoeia in a graphic novel and analyze its translation strategies, compiling a mini-dictionary of onomatopoeias (language pair French — Ukrainian). In the course of the research, it was found that the graphic novel relies on a purely visual and textual component. It is the visual accompaniment of colors, text and drawing style that helps to understand how to perceive onomatopoeia in context. Such an artistic tool as a speech bubble is also responsible for conveying the meaning of onomatopoeia, so the shape, size, and style of letters must be taken into account during interpretation. When working on the translation of onomatopoeia in graphic novels, it is necessary to rely on general linguistic knowledge, analyzing the type of onomatopoeia by origin (human sounds, animal sounds, nature sounds, sounds of objects) and the meaning of formative onomatopes for a more effective selection of analogues. At the same time, the process of translation is primarily a creative process, so it is impossible to offer a specific model of work on the text. Having studied the ways of translating onomatopoeia in a number of comics about Tintin (Hergé) and in “Persepolis” (Marjan Satrapi), we came to the conclusion that the translators used the following strategies: transcription / transliteration; partial adaptation (replacement of one or two letters); complete replacement of the onomatopoeic word with a word specific to the Ukrainian language; full replacement of the word with partial replacement of the meaning; replacing the onomatopoeia with the root of the corresponding verb. Common in translation practice is the addition and removal of certain elements (onomatopoeia included), which is generally not approved, but is not a drawback provided that the author’s intention is followed. Often the translator has to combine strategies to achieve an accurate and expressive result.

Well-being and multisensory urban parks at different ages: The role of interoception and audiovisual perception

The aim of the present work was to verify whether the perception of visual and acoustic characteristics of urban parks is influenced by the age of the participants. Fifty young (average age 25 years) and fifty elderly (average age 66 years) people were shown with combinations of different types of urban parks (i.e., green, colorful parks and squares) and different types of sound (i.e., bird song, water, chattering and traffic). For each audio-video scenario, participants indicated how calm, happy and stimulated it made them feel and how pleasant, exciting and attractive each scenario was. In addition, participants performed a cross-modal attention task and filled out an interoceptive awareness questionnaire. The results showed that both young and elderly participants preferred green parks with natural sounds. In addition, elderly participants positively evaluated colorful parks over squares. Interestingly, young participants gave more importance to the evaluation of visual-only elements than auditory-only elements, whereas elderly participants gave more importance to the acoustic characteristics of scenarios than the visual ones. Finally, in the elderly group, both attentional abilities and interoceptive awareness contributed to the positive evaluation of urban parks. Theoretically, the results suggest that both signals from the body and from the external world contribute to a holistic representation of the environment. Cross-modal attention may play a crucial role in this process. On an applied level, the data suggest that the design of colorful parks and soundscapes that evoke nature should be encouraged, especially for older populations.

Soundscape composition: hearing the real and surreal

Creative and interdisciplinary approaches to soundscape are introduced pointing out diverse compositional designs of aesthetic or scientific outcome. Different and adventurous works reveal the role of technology and its utilization either for artistic or scientific task. This article discusses different compositional approaches related to soundscape and its technological application. It creates an entire body of original works from specialists that connect with multiple disciples that find soundscapes as a useful tool for research like aural fauna identification. As an example, it can be seen the collaboration dealing with fauna census among specialist biologists and artists enhanced by technology. All these have led to redefining different concepts found within the disciple of composition, working with soundscape. Compositions like Verdant by David Dunn, and Shadow by Max Richter help us to define ‘surreal’ soundscape. These compositions combine natural sounds along with synthesized ones. On the other hand, works by Murray Schafer and Bernie Krause exemplify compositional practices while recording ‘natural’ soundscapes, which is described during the work. Nevertheless, we focus on the different possibilities and strategies implemented by practitioners interested in contributing to current environmental issues.

The Effects of Natural Sounds and Proxemic Distances on the Perception of a Noisy Domestic Flying Robot

When flying robots are used in close-range interaction with humans, the noise they generate, also called consequential sound, is a critical parameter for user acceptance. We conjecture that there is a benefit in adding natural sounds to noisy domestic drones. To test our hypothesis experimentally, we carried out a mixed-methods research study (N = 56) on reported user perception of a sonified domestic flying robot with three sound conditions at three distances. The natural sounds studied were, respectively, added to the robot’s inherent noises during flying; namely, a bird song and a rain sound, plus a control condition of no added sound. The distances studied were set according to proxemics; namely, near , middle , and far . Our results show that adding bird song or rain sound affects the participants’ perceptions, and the proxemic distances play a nonnegligible role. For instance, we found that participants liked the bird condition the most when the drone was at far , while they disliked the same sound the most when at near . We also found that participants’ perceptions strongly depended on their associations and interpretations deriving from previous experience. We derived six concrete design recommendations.

Soundscape Perception and Preference in the context of Malaysian Urban Parks

Park soundscape studies are receiving increasing attention in cities due to the increasing noise pollution in urban centers. As soundscape is dependent on people-place-interaction, there is still a lack of knowledge on how the socio-demography of the park users influences the perceptions and preferences of the soundscapes in the parks of Malaysia. Most studies on soundscape perception are linked to the general population in developed Western and Eastern countries, investigating the relationship of perception with mental well-being. This paper addresses the gap between the park’s sound profile and soundscape perception in the context of a developing country, Malaysia. A random sampling of 423 park users in four selected Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya parks was used to conduct an on-site survey regarding their perceptions of the park’s soundscape. The study revealed that soundscape perception differs among park visitors in a typical urban park in Malaysia. Three dimensions of socio-demographic and behavioural attributes were found to be associated with the perception and preferences of park soundscapes, which are (1) age and educational level, related to the perception of the dominance of human sounds; (2) distance from home and sensitivity of park users revealed that those who are stressed and more sensitive to noises influence their expectations of the pleasantness and calmness of the park’s soundscape; and (3) gender and occupation on the other hand only relates to the dominance of natural sounds indicating that females are more sensitive to the sounds of nature when in a park. It is crucial to consider the needs of all park visitors to provide a supporting soundscape which matches the activities carried out in the parks. These results implicate Malaysian park planning and management by serving a further understanding of the relationship between the soundscape of the parks from the perspective of different park users.

Effect of Added Natural and Artificial Sounds on Emotional Response and Indoor Soundscape to Residential Noises

This study investigated the effect of added natural and artificial sounds on emotional responses due to residential noises. The laboratory experiment conducted on three residential noise sources (child jumping and plumbing from upper unit and air conditioner outdoor unit) with different sound spectrum and temporal characteristics. In addition, combined sounds with residential, natural (one birdsong and three water sounds of waterfall, sea wave, and stream) and artificial sound (brown and white noise) were set. The experiment consisted of two sessions; self-assessment manikin and indoor soundscape assessment for each sound sources (single and combined residential noises) presented by headphone and woofer. As a result, most combined natural and artificial sounds resulted in more positive changes (higher valence and lower arousal score) than single residential noise. Among combined sounds, multiple natural sound (birdsong + stream) with residential noise showed significant difference from single residential noises such as air conditioner outdoor unit and plumbing noise. Meanwhile, eight affective attribute scale for indoor soundscape assessment showed two main perceptual dimensions and most added natural and artificial sounds had a role in increasing comfort.

Acoustic environment and its restorative potential in small urban green spaces

Small urban green spaces (SUGS) in dense city areas have been widely demonstrated to have restorative benefits to surrounding residents. However, residents' usage and experience of SUGS were indicated to be adversely influenced by adjacent traffic noise, whilst natural sounds inside could provide restorative soundscape resources. Thus, this study investigated the acoustic quality and its restorative potential in 12 SUGS in Qingdao via field measurements and questionnaire surveys. The results show that: (1) The noise level of SUGS largely ranged in 50-60 dBA, with dominant road traffic noise. Three perceptual soundscape dimensions were identified: appreciation, diversity and dynamics. (2) Scenic SUGS featured more natural sounds, lower noise levels, and more appreciation; residential SUGS featured more human sounds and worse soundscape evaluation; and business SUGS featured higher noise levels. (3) The acoustic environments in scenic SUGS showed much more restorative potential than residential and business ones, and the restorative potential of SUGS was highly influenced by sound levels (LAeq, L10, and L90), sound sources (traffic noise and natural sounds), and soundscape qualities (appreciation and diversity). The findings were expected to provide references for the sustainable planning and design of small urban green spaces in dense cities.

The characteristics of the acoustic environment and the restorative benefits of soundscape in interventional therapy rooms

Coronary heart disease (CHD) has become one of the most serious health problems in the world. As a treatment environment for CHD, the acoustic environment in the interventional therapy room is crucial to patients and healthcare workers. To investigate the characteristics of the sound environment in interventional therapy rooms and the soundscape health benefits of the soundscape for patients, acoustic measurements and noise behavior observations were conducted in various areas of an interventional therapy room, and soundscape intervention experiments were performed on patients treated there. In this study, CHD patients were used as the research object. Results show that: 1) the background noise levels for waiting area (WA) and operation area (OA) under empty field conditions were 54.5 dBA and 52.8 dBA, and 66.43 dBA and 64.2 dBA, respectively, under conditions of usual use. 2) Patients perceived the acoustic environment as noisy and uncomfortable in both areas, with OA being more severe than WA. 3) Natural sounds from composite sources has a greater potential for restorative benefits than single-source soundscape.

A Pilot Study on the Environmental Noise of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Projects in Chongqing, China

Noise is still a significant problem in urban areas that requires attention. Within the past ten years, urban development has moved to the TOD concept, mainly a mixed-use, high-density, and compact public transportation-oriented area with commercial and residential areas. Due to more functions in the area, the noise is expected to be higher. Despite this, research on environmental noise in the TOD area is still limited. This study will investigate the environmental noise in the outdoor areas of the TOD projects in Chongqing, China, namely U Cheng Paradise Walk and Gaoxin Paradise Walk. This study used a questionnaire as the preliminary study and field measurement to know the existing conditions. Based on the questionnaire survey and sound level measurement, the TOD projects are relatively noisy in the 65-68 dBA range. This result exceeds the noise limit of 60 dBA the Chinese government gave in GB 3096-2008 for mixed-use areas. Noise barrier installation and additional natural sounds can be two of several solutions to improve the existing sound condition in the TOD projects. Further research related to the sound environment of the TOD projects is needed to improve the sound environment quality. Keywords: environmental noise, transit oriented development, outdoor areas, noise limit

Impact of exposure to natural versus urban soundscapes on brain functional connectivity, BOLD entropy and behavior

BackgroundHumans have been moving from rural to urban environments for decades. This process may have important consequences for our health and well-being. Most previous studies have focused on visual input, and the auditory domain has been understudied so far. Therefore, we set out to investigate the influence of exposure to natural vs urban soundscapes on brain activity and behavior. MethodsResting-state fMRI data was acquired while participants (N = 35) listened to natural and urban soundscapes. Two affective questionnaires (the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Perceived Stress Scale) and two cognitive tasks (dual n-back (DNB) and the backward digit-span (BDS)) were assessed before and after each soundscape condition. To quantify brain function we used complexity and network measures, namely brain entropy (BEN) and whole brain functional connectivity (FC). To study the link between brain and behavior, changes in BEN and whole brain FC were correlated to changes in cognitive performance and self-reported affect. ResultsWe found higher BEN when listening to urban sounds in posterior cingulate gyrus, cuneus and precuneus, occipital lobe/calcarine as compared to nature sounds, which was negatively correlated to (post-pre) differences in positive affect (PANAS) in the urban soundscape condition. In addition, we found higher FC between areas in the auditory, cinguloopercular, somatomotor hand and mouth networks when listening to nature as compared to urban sounds which was positively correlated to (post-pre) differences of the of the composite score of Digit span and N-back for nature soundscape. ConclusionsThis study provides a framework for the neural underpinnings of how natural versus urban soundscapes affect both whole brain FC and BEN and bear implications for the understanding of how the physical auditory environment affects brain function and subsequently observed behavior. Moreover, correlations with cognition and affect reveal the meaning that exposure to soundscapes may have on the human brain. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to analyze BEN and whole brain FC at rest during exposure to nature and urban soundscapes and to explore their relationship to behavior.

Neural decoding of inferior colliculus multiunit activity for sound category identification with temporal correlation and transfer learning

ABSTRACT Natural sounds are easily perceived and identified by humans and animals. Despite this, the neural transformations that enable sound perception remain largely unknown. It is thought that the temporal characteristics of sounds may be reflected in auditory assembly responses at the inferior colliculus (IC) and which may play an important role in identification of natural sounds. In our study, natural sounds will be predicted from multi-unit activity (MUA) signals collected in the IC. Data is obtained from an international platform publicly accessible. The temporal correlation values of the MUA signals are converted into images. We used two different segment sizes and with a denoising method, we generated four subsets for the classification. Using pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs), features of the images were extracted and the type of heard sound was classified. For this, we applied transfer learning from Alexnet, Googlenet and Squeezenet CNNs. The classifiers support vector machines (SVM), k-nearest neighbour (KNN), Naive Bayes and Ensemble were used. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision and F1 score were measured as evaluation parameters. By using all the tests and removing the noise, the accuracy improved significantly. These results will allow neuroscientists to make interesting conclusions.

Spectral-temporal processing of naturalistic sounds in monkeys and humans.

Human speech and vocalizations in animals are rich in joint spectrotemporal (S-T) modulations, wherein acoustic changes in both frequency and time are functionally related. In principle, the primate auditory system could process these complex dynamic sounds based on either an inseparable representation of S-T features or, alternatively, a separable representation. The separability hypothesis implies an independent processing of spectral and temporal modulations. We collected comparative data on the S-T hearing sensitivity in humans and macaque monkeys to a wide range of broadband dynamic spectrotemporal ripple stimuli employing a yes-no signal-detection task. Ripples were systematically varied, as a function of density (spectral modulation frequency), velocity (temporal modulation frequency), or modulation depth, to cover a listener's full S-T modulation sensitivity, derived from a total of 87 psychometric ripple detection curves. Audiograms were measured to control for normal hearing. Determined were hearing thresholds, reaction time distributions, and S-T modulation transfer functions (MTFs), both at the ripple detection thresholds and at suprathreshold modulation depths. Our psychophysically derived MTFs are consistent with the hypothesis that both monkeys and humans employ analogous perceptual strategies: S-T acoustic information is primarily processed separable. Singular value decomposition (SVD), however, revealed a small, but consistent, inseparable spectral-temporal interaction. Finally, SVD analysis of the known visual spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity function (CSF) highlights that human vision is space-time inseparable to a much larger extent than is the case for S-T sensitivity in hearing. Thus, the specificity with which the primate brain encodes natural sounds appears to be less strict than is required to adequately deal with natural images.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We provide comparative data on primate audition of naturalistic sounds comprising hearing thresholds, reaction time distributions, and spectral-temporal modulation transfer functions. Our psychophysical experiments demonstrate that auditory information is primarily processed in a spectral-temporal-independent manner by both monkeys and humans. Singular value decomposition of known visual spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity, in comparison to our auditory spectral-temporal sensitivity, revealed a striking contrast in how the brain encodes natural sounds as opposed to natural images, as vision appears to be space-time inseparable.

Exploring relationships among soundscape perception, spatiotemporal sound characteristics, and personal traits through social media

Abstract Understanding the causes of noise annoyance requires recognition of the factors that affect soundscape perceptions. This study aims to explore multilevel factors of acoustic comfort and the perceived health effects of sound exposure, including personal traits, sound characteristics, and spatiotemporal features of the surrounding environment. We designed the Soundmap chatbot to collect data from the participants during May 16-July 16, 2022. The participants completed two tasks including sound recording and questionnaires. Sound feature extraction and identification were computed. Two soundscape perception variables were used as outcome variables and measured, and cumulative link mixed models were applied for statistical analysis. Results showed that for female participants, lower acoustic comfort was associated with sound exposure at night, at the land use of transportation and built-up areas, as well as the sounds of machines, vehicles, and airplanes. Low-frequency sound exposure and sounds of nature, silence, music, and human activity were associated with higher acoustic comfort, and these exposures were also associated with positive perceptions of health in rural areas and on weekends. Individuals with extraversion had a higher tolerance to sound; those with high noise sensitivity had a lower tolerance to sound. Understanding sound perception is crucial in maintaining a sustainable urban acoustic environment.