Soundscape Perception Research Articles

An investigation into the impact of unmanned aerial vehicles on soundscape perception in urban and rural environments

It is predicted that urban air mobility, including the use of small to medium sized unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) delivery systems, will be introduced into cities across the globe within the next 15 years. It is known, however, that noise is one of the main limiting factors for the wider adoption of these vehicles. Neither the metrics nor the methods used for conventional aircraft seem to be optimal for this novel source of noise. This research will aid in developing suitable psychoacoustic methodologies and metrics, specifically designed to quantify community noise impact of these vehicles. This paper describes a psychoacoustic experiment used to gather participant responses to UAV sound recordings, both isolated and with typical background noise in a diversity of soundscapes. Results from this psychoacoustic experiment will be used to correlate perceptions of UAV noise with objective sound quality metrics, and build new regression relationships that could describe the impact of a given UAV on the perception of soundscape environments. Future extension to the research may include evaluating the differences in psychoacoustic responses when introducing more accurate reproduction methods, such as virtual reality systems, and how these could be incorporated into a standardised human response measurement procedure.

Soundscape restoration model based on psycho-physiological response with audio-visual interaction in natural environment

In this study, a soundscape restoration model was proposed in terms of audio-visual interaction based on psycho-physiological response by natural soundscape experience. To this end, audio-visual stimuli were collected in 6 sites of 2 types of natural environment (greenery and water) and 3 sites of urban environment (as control), and a laboratory evaluation environment was implemented using virtual reality technology. Sixty subjects participated in the experiment for two days, and the individual's health status, personality and temperament, and sensitivity were investigated before the evaluation. In the experiment on the first day, a stress test (mental arithmetic) was performed before the stimulation experience, and questionnaires related to psychological recovery was answered after the stimulation experience. In all the experimental procedures, physiological responses such as heart rate, electroencephalogram (EEG), and eye-tracking were measured so that before/during/after response from experience could be compared. In the experiment on the second day, they were asked to respond to a questionnaire related to the soundscape and landscape of environment. Finally, the relationship between the audio-visual environment (soundscape and landscape perception) and the psycho-physiological response was investigated using structural equation model, and based on this, design guidelines for healthy urban city were proposed.

Effect of visual elements on Indoor soundscape perception in open-plan office

This study examined the effect of changes in visual elements on spatial comfort and work productivity in the aspect of indoor soundscape perception in the open-plan office (OPO) sound environment. Various OPO visual stimuli were simulated using computer software (Unity 3D engine) to change the visual environment by varying variables such as worker density, window ratio, green ratio, and ceiling height. An interactive virtual reality environment was implemented to perform a specific task while experiencing the audio-visual stimuli combining the general OPO noise stimulus and the simulated OPO visual stimulus. Subjective evaluation was performed on a total of 30 subjects to evaluate indoor soundscape quality and work performance for each stimulus. Based on the results of this study, a pleasant OPO design guideline was proposed. Keywords: Open-plan office, indoor soundscape, interactive VR test, spatial comfort

Soundscape Evaluation Comparison of Outdoor Activity Space Between Gated and Open Communities.

In communities, outdoor activity space is utilized most often by older adults and children, and the soundscape is very important for its quality. For different community planning modes, such as gated and open communities, focus should be on different soundscape enhancement strategies for outdoor spaces. In this paper, typical samples of activity spaces in a gated community and in an open community were used. The comparison was conducted through soundscape evaluation including an analysis of the dominance of various sound sources, noise annoyance, and the perceptual dimensions of soundscape. The results showed that noise annoyance in the gated community was significantly lower than in the open community, although the noise level was of no significance between the two communities. The community planning mode moderated the relationships among the soundscape perception parameters between the gated and open communities. To reduce noise annoyance in the gated communities, each sound source should be considered; in open communities, traffic noise only should be considered. In a gated community, adding natural sounds to reduce noise annoyance may be a feasible intervention; in an open community, this is not necessary. Besides, there was no relationship between noise annoyance and Eventfulness in an open community, indicating that noise annoyance was insufficient to explain the complex sound environment of the community. China’s community planning will gradually shift from a gated community to an open community, making the soundscape of outdoor activity spaces likely to change dramatically in the future. The findings will help urban designers and managers to adopt targeted strategies to improve the soundscape and quality of life of community-dwelling older adults and children.

A questionnaire investigating the emotional salience of sounds

Assessing the emotional impact that sounds have on individuals is of fundamental importance. In fact, individuals might choose a particular environment, such as a square or a green urban park, by also considering how positively or negatively the acoustic characteristics of that environment make them feel. However, at the moment, no questionnaire allows to reliably and clearly assess the emotional salience of sounds; that is how positively and negatively a sound is perceived by individuals. Therefore, in the present work, we developed and compared two different questionnaires (A and B) focused on how the sound is affectively assessed (e.g. pleasant, calm) and how it makes people feel (e.g. happy, sad, energetic). The two questionnaires differ mainly in their first part, where Questionnaire A was built starting from the circumplex model of soundscape perception, whereas Questionnaire B was created by focusing on the emotional dimension of sounds. The questionnaires were administered to two different groups of participants. Principal component analysis and reliability analysis showed that Questionnaire B was able to capture more reliably and clearly the Positive and Negative dimensions of the sound than questionnaire A. The implications of these results are discussed in light of recent indications about the need to assess in a clear, reliable and straightforward way the impact of the sound environment on humans.

Thinking Outside the Park: Connecting Visitors’ Sound Affect in a Nature-Based Tourism Setting with Perceptions of Their Urban Home and Work Soundscapes

This study examined the potential for Perceived Affective Quality (PAQ; pleasantness, eventfulness, familiarity) soundscape measures developed within urban settings to enrich current soundscape management approaches within protected areas (PAs). Drawing on the premise that people bring experiences from other life contexts into PA settings and PA visitors are increasingly coming from urban areas, research integrated urban visitors’ soundscape perceptions of their home and work acoustic environments with their perceptions of acoustic environments in PAs. Two-phased survey research (n = 333) separated visitors into urban density groups and compared PAQ variables across home, work, and PA contexts. Significant differences resulted, both in ratings of the three acoustic contexts (PA, home, work) for all three PAQ components and between urban density groups. The importance of pleasantness was confirmed across all contexts; however, alone, this dimension lacked sufficient contrast to interpret the complexity of soundscape perceptions, especially considering diverse Healthy Parks, Healthy People (HPHP) visitor experience scenarios and goals. Thus, managers should consider (1) additional PAQ variables that can provide more useful and contrasting information; (2) incorporating methods that integrate PAQ measures across visitors’ different acoustic contexts, and (3) including urban density measures within HPHP research.

Exploring the dimensions of everyday soundscapes perception in spatiotemporal view: A qualitative approach

Soundscape measurement has gained attention from researchers across a variety of disciplines and professions. The aim of this study was to explore everyday soundscapes properties as perceived by non-experts and construct a soundscape perception model in the spatiotemporal view and landscape tradition. This study used the conceptual framework of an existing landscape model to construct a soundscape evaluation scale based on the qualitative analysis of 490 semi-structured questionnaires. The evaluation scale has five fundamental dimensions: Perceptible Sound Characteristics, Perceptual Time, Perceptual Place, Audience Subjectivity, and Auditory Imagination. There are 18 primary indexes and 35 secondary indexes. The results indicated that the public’s perception schema of soundscape was similar to that of visual landscape, but had more emotional aspects. Thus, the soundscape can produce abundant auditory mapping in the mind through the involvement of the auditory organs and subsequent cognitive processing and people can provide efficient evolution of the perceptible sound environment as feedback.

Flow in soundscape: the conceptualization of soundscape flow experience and its relationship with soundscape perception and behaviour intention in tourism destinations

ABSTRACT The soundscape is an essential type of attraction in tourism destinations. Music can serve as a significant tourist attraction that makes people immersed in it. Similarly, while tourists linger in the leisure and recreation environment, they may have a flow experience of the soundscape in tourism attractions. Yet, there is little research about the relationship between tourists’ perception of soundscape and flow experience. Taking Lijiang old town, a world heritage site, as an example, this study explored the dimensions of tourists’ perception of soundscape and soundscape flow experience and examined the influence of soundscape perception on soundscape flow experience. The results indicate that soundscape perception includes three dimensions: preference, comfort, and richness. The flow experience of soundscape is a second-order construct in this research, which contains four dimensions: time distortion, control, enjoyment, and concentration. Besides, preference and richness positively influence flow experience, and flow experience contributes to behavioural intention, whereas comfort does not significantly affect flow experience. This study applied flow theory to soundscape research, which enriches the study of soundscape experience. This study has also provided management strategies for tourism destinations to improve the quality of the soundscape experience.

Soundscape Perceptions and Preferences for Different Groups of Users in Urban Recreational Forest Parks

Although the soundscape in cities is receiving increased attention in urban planning, there is still a lack of knowledge of how personal factors influence the perception of and preference for soundscapes. Most present studies are linked to one or a few specific soundscapes and do not have a holistic approach exploring the pros and cons of all soundscapes in a place. This study surveyed individuals to assess how soundscape perceptions and preferences may differ among various attendees of typical urban forest recreational parks in Xi’an, China, using an on-site questionnaire. The respondents (N = 2034) revealed that rare natural sounds were perceived more positively than the dominating artificial sounds. Five main dimensions of social, demographic, and behavioral attributes were found to be linked to the soundscape perceptions and preferences: (1) familiarity of the park and attendees’ age made people more tolerant towards sounds that others find annoying; (2) higher education and higher socio-economic status showed lower tolerance towards sounds; (3) having companions and specific types of recreational use increased the frequent perception of artificial sounds; (4) females generally showed higher sensitivity and lower tolerance than males towards several sounds; and (5) the longer attendees remained in the park, the more positive the overall soundscape preference was. The results indicate that numerous sounds are affecting people’s overall experience in the parks. These findings could help decision-makers and urban forest recreational park designers to formulate relevant strategies for park design that are in tune with varying public needs and expectations towards soundscape. The implementation of human-oriented soundscape design can therefore enhance people’s well-being.

Conceptual model of soundscape perception based on working behaviour in open-plan offices

The open-plan office is one of the most popular and preferred workspace arrangement options for employers today. The results of research in western countries show that listeners’ perceptions of the soundscape in open-plan offices are negative, due to reduced visual and acoustic privacy and uncontrolled sound levels. This can cause a significant decrease in work comfort and productivity. Several researchers have provided acoustic design solutions by performing adequate speech control through several solutions such as creating spacing between workstations, the use of acoustic dampening materials, insulation between workstations, and application of a noise masking system. The phenomenon of adopting an open-plan office has also hit offices in big cities in the world, including in Indonesia. The purpose of this paper is to further examine listeners’ perceptions of the soundscape in the case of open-plan offices in the local environment because the results are indicated to be different from similar cases in western countries, given the peculiarities of employee work behaviour which are influenced by individual experiences and social effects in the local environment are also different. For this reason, a comprehensive literature review method is needed that aims to investigate the relationship between soundscape perceptions and working behaviour in open-plan offices in the local environment and then to create an integrated conceptual model so that further researchers can evaluate the research related to these problems.

Recognition of sound source components in soundscape based on deep learning

Sound source components are a crucially important aspect in soundscape, since humans’ perception and evaluation of soundscape strongly depend on the recognition of the constituent sound sources of the acoustic environment. Over the last few years, numbers of studies examined the methods of automated recognition of environmental sound sources/events using machine learning technology. However, the recognition of sound source components in soundscapes remains a challenge for real applications. This present study utilizes the deep learning, a latest developed and advanced machine learning technology, to develop an algorithm to solve this challenge. Without manually extracted acoustic or psychoacoustic features based on expertise, this algorithm automatically extracts features from the spectrogram representation of the sound signals and makes the recognition. It produces the sound source components recognized in the acoustic environment and their respective present time. The algorithm achieves high recognition accuracy, based on binaural recordings of outdoor acoustic environment. For new recordings, i.e., test samples, the recognition accuracies vary from 81.3% to 100%, depending on the specific sound source. This algorithm developed can greatly help soundscape research, and can be applied in automatic soundscape description of sound source components, prediction of soundscape perception and evaluation, and soundscape management.

Audio-visual interactions enhance soundscape perception in China’s protected areas

Coordination of sound and view management is essential to construct tranquility and enhance the visitor experience in protected areas. However, research on audio-visual interactions has historically primarily focused on urban environments, revealing a significant gap in protected areas. In China, soundscape research is urgently needed in protected areas to preserve the long tradition of soundscape appreciation and the high social and ecological values of soundscapes under overwhelming tourism pressure. Using the Wulingyuan World Heritage Site as the case study and through the lens of ten semantic differentials (SDs), this article employed a lab experiment to explore the influence of audio-visual interactions on soundscape assessment to inform the management of protected areas. Our results show that, regardless of the soundscape composition (i.e., primarily natural vs. mixed vs. anthropogenic), the two types of visual stimuli tested, which either matches or mismatches the sound sampling sites, generally led to higher soundscape assessment than when no visual stimuli were present. This positive effect of audio-visual interaction on soundscape assessment, however, would potentially be offset by the adverse visual impacts of overly artificial non-matching scenes. The nature of the sound, characteristics of the visual stimuli, and the personality dimension of extraversion were significantly associated with soundscape assessment. Different SDs exhibited varied influences from visual vs. audio stimuli. In particular, irritating/happy and ugly/beautiful showed the highest sensitivity to visual stimuli, whereas artificial/natural was mainly determined by the sound characteristics.These results call for multi-scale landscape interventions to address the increasingly prevalent low audio-visual congruence in China’s protected areas. Identifying critical mismatches between the visual and audio environment and developing coordinated management strategies will be essential to preserving the tranquility of protected areas and improving public perception.

Overland tourists’ natural soundscape perceptions: influences on experience, satisfaction, and electronic word-of-mouth

ABSTRACT The natural soundscape is an under-researched topic of study in tourism literature. More so, research lacks empirical examination on the antecedents and outcomes of natural soundscape perceptions. Drawing on the extant literature, the present study investigates the interplay of tourist engagement, soundscape perceptions, memorable tourism experiences (MTEs), satisfaction and electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM). Using responses from 221 overland tourists in African destinations who posted their experiences on Instagram, the study employs partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modelling to test the relationships. The results reveal that engagement positively influenced natural soundscape perceptions, which, in turn, positively influenced memorable tourism experiences, satisfaction, and e-WOM. Also, MTEs predicted satisfaction and e-WOM. The results did not support the antecedent effects of engagement on memorable tourism experiences, nor of satisfaction on e-WOM. The paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and suggests areas for further research.

The importance of changing urban scenery in the assessment of citizens’ soundscape perception. On the need for different time-related points of view

Abstract The city of Granada is experimenting a big urban transformation, attending national and international commitments on clean air, energy efficiency and savings linked to greenhouse gases reduction strategies and sustainable development action plans. This situation constitutes a good scenario for new noise control approaches that take into account the sound variable and citizens empowering in urban design, such as the soundscape assessment of urban territory. In this way, soundscape tools have been used in Granada as a complementary method for environmental noise characterisation where traditional noise control techniques are difficult to be carried out or give limited results. After 2016 strategic noise map and in the preparation of the new noise action plan, the city came across a great acoustic challenge in a new area located outskirts characterised by growing urbanisation, still under development, the greatest legal protection because of sensitive teaching and hospital buildings and the greatest noise exposure from nearby ring-way supporting heavy traffic flow. As quiet urban areas are not characterised by the absence of noise but for the presence of the right noise, this research intended to provide the local administration with results and proposals to transform this conflict area in a pleasant or quiet urban place. Main results came from important and significative differences in morning and evening characterisation, as great differences appear in soundscape assessment over the day and along the soundwalk path, indicating the importance of time and local issues to adequately characterised citizens perception to be considered by administration in the development of strategies and effective noise control actions.

A survey on the soundscape perception before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy

Abstract At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of lockdown measures highlights changes in terms of sounds and noises present in the everyday life. The present paper deals with this peculiar and unexpected scenario as studied by means of an online survey consisting of 18 questions and distributed to residents in the Italian territory. For studying the unprecedented effect of the pandemic, participants were asked to fill the questionnaire, providing personal data, describing context and characteristics of the house in which they live and making a comparison of the lockdown soundscape with the pre-lockdown one. About four hundred questionnaires have been collected and analysed in order to define correlations between personal and perception variables. Using logistic regression models, changes have been studied during the two abovementioned periods. It has been observed that the perception of traffic noise has increased for people over 35 years old and the noise produced by the neighbourhood has been more statistically significant for employed respondents. Future outlook might provide the spread of the questionnaire in other countries for a global evaluation of the data, to be also acquired with reference to the after-lockdown period.

Assessing and Characterizing the Perception of Soundscape in the Urban Park: A Case Study of Zayed Park, Egypt

Assessing and Characterizing the Perception of Soundscape in the Urban Park: A Case Study of Zayed Park, Egypt

Potential restorative effect of the urban soundscape experience

This study investigated the potential restorative effect of various urban soundscape experiences. The evaluation stimulus was implemented using virtual reality technology in a laboratory environment. Restoration-related semantic expression words were selected from the interview responses of 50 subjects, and the presence or absence of the expression of the words was newly proposed as a restorative potential criteria. The objective characteristics of urban soundscapes were analyzed based on auditory, visual, and object aspects, and subjects responded to sound source identification, perceived affective quality, and overall quality. The temperament and character inventory-revised short version and satisfaction with life scale were used to investigate individual characteristics. Based on this, a prediction model having an accuracy of 83% was proposed for the restorative potential criteria. As a result, it was found that the overall perception of soundscape was a crucial factor in increasing the restorative potential effect of the urban soundscape experience. In addition, it was confirmed that the restorative potential effect by individual characteristics varied significantly even in the same space. The findings of this study are expected to serve as a basis for sustainable and healthy urban soundscape design.

Connecting protected area visitor experiences, wellness motivations, and soundscape perceptions in Chilean Patagonia

Supporting worldwide Healthy Parks, Healthy People (HPHP) research expansion, this study investigated how wellness motivations interplay with auditory experiences by examining relationships between protected area visitors’ wellness motivations, and their perceptions of particular sounds and overall soundscape appeal. Visitor surveys (N = 899), implemented in the Coyhaique National Reserve in Chilean Patagonia, included participant demographics, wellness motivations, a listening exercise, and overall soundscape ratings. Wellness motivations were reduced into emotional, intellectual, physical, sensory, and social dimensions. All dimensions were significantly correlated with participants’ ratings of the soundscape’s appeal and their desire to visit more (based on the soundscape). Cluster analysis grouped participants into low, moderate, and high wellness motives groups. Groups with high-wellness motives were found to rate specific natural sounds and the overall soundscape higher than groups with lower wellness motives. This study suggests incorporating visitors’ wellness motivations into soundscape and other perception-based research may assist with HPHP objectives.

Effects of environmental sound quality on soundscape preference in a public urban space

A public urban space is undoubtedly one of the key elements in urban planning. It allows citizens with different backgrounds to freely accesses for various healthy, social, or individual reasons. User experience of the space is hence valuable data for the improvement of urban land use. This study aims to investigate how the environmental sound quality influence visitors' soundscape perceptions, preferences, and behavior. Multidimensional acoustic characterization, in terms of a series of acoustic and psychoacoustic metrics, of the acoustic environment were conducted in the five locations at Sha Tin Park of Hong Kong. Meanwhile, self-administrated questionnaires were distributed to the visitors in the locations to collect the subjective data. Total 150 visitors were surveyed. The results indicated that the visitors’ loudness and satisfaction perceptions were associated with the maximum sound levels (LAmax and Nmax) instead of the time-equivalent sound levels (e.g. LAeq and Neq) of the environment. Moreover, it was found that the higher degree of satisfaction was predicted if the visitors perceived a more quiet and pleasant soundscape. In addition, the preferences for soundscape elements could be classified into the three principal components “Natural sounds”, “Human-made sounds”, and “Mechanical sounds”. Furthermore, visitors had a greater overall preference for a good soundscape when they perceived a more pleasant soundscape, had a higher preference for natural sounds, and had a higher visit frequency of the park. These findings consolidated the knowledge on further environmental management and designs of public urban spaces to fulfil the public expectation.

The influence of human behavioral characteristics on soundscape perception in urban parks: Subjective and observational approaches

With an emphasis on the role of parks in urban environments, studies on soundscape, which assess sound quality, have focused on human perception. In particular, various studies have been conducted on the relationship between human behavioral characteristics and their sound environment. However, there is still insufficient research on human behavioral characteristics in the context of urban parks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of human behavioral characteristics on perceptions of soundscapes in urban parks. Participants were asked to subjectively evaluate the soundscapes of three parks in Paris, France, using three cognitive stages: indicators (perceived audio and visual elements), emotions (semantic expression), and cognition (overall quality of the park’s soundscape). The human behavioral characteristics that the participants witnessed were categorized into whether there was social interaction, whether people remained in the park or were passing through, and what kind of activities took place. To secure high ecological validity, audio-visual information was provided to the participants using virtual reality equipment. The results demonstrated that sounds made by other people decreased the perceived tranquility or peacefulness while the experience of the park as being dynamic and lively increased. We also found that the primary determinant of park preferences was not the type of human activities but the presence or absence of people.