Concept Of Soundscape Research Articles

Literature review on perception and evaluation criteria of soundscapes among sighted and visually impaired individuals

The sound and its qualities are important of the quality of built environments. The concept of soundscape, rooted in user's subjective perception of context, plays a crucial role in peoples' overall assessment of their surroundings. This study attempts to discern the similarities and differences in soundscape perception and evaluation between sighted and visually impaired users through a literature review. The results suggest that visually impaired people perceive soundscapes as having the additional role of helping to understand spatial boundaries and providing information about the external environment. The soundscape assessment protocols were adapted both to take account of this feedback and to compensate for their inaccessibility (e.g., questionnaire format and potential hazards associated with soundscapes). The review output also suggested that visually impaired people orient their impressions more towards their expectations. Particularly, the impact of event-based sounds, characterized by spatial and semantic features, extends to influencing their experiences and behaviors within a given space. Despite distinctions, there exist commonalities in their perception of certain acoustic features between visually impaired and sighted individuals, such as sounds from nature having a positive effect on both groups and mechanic sound noted as negative. This review ends by listing research gaps and methodological opportunities.

사운드스케이프 개념에서 본 지역문화자원의 관광콘텐츠 활용 방안 연구: 국립대관령치유의숲을 중심으로

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the concept of soundscape through its ecological, social, and cultural characteristics, exploring its value as a local cultural resource and strategizing its utilization as a region-specific resource. This study highlighted the significance of soundscapes as local resources, emphasizing their integration with regional cultural assets and proposing strategies for their expansion and future use to enhance regional interaction. Methods: The study was conducted through field research and focus group interviews (FGI) at the National Center for Forest Therapy, Daegwallyeong, targeting six local cultural activists in the arts sector from August 2, 2021, to December 20, 2021. This study explored the potential connections and utilization strategies between soundscapes and local cultural resources, based on theoretical considerations. Results: The findings revealed a connectivity between local cultural resources and soundscapes. Soundscapes interact with the history, traditions, and cultural activities of communities, suggesting that they can serve as unique tourism content that enhances a region's identity and competitiveness, offering various uses and value. Secondly, soundscapes serve as a bridge between a region's past and present, highlighting their potential for expansion as a local cultural resource. From this foundation, key discussions on scalability generated practical and applicable ideas for using soundscapes as tourism attractions. Conclusion: This research identified a positive correlation between utilizing soundscapes and enhancing regional identity and competitiveness, as well as stimulating the local economy through tourism.

Comparison of subjective evaluations in virtual and real environments for soundscape researcha).

Emerging technologies of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are enhancing soundscape research, potentially producing new insights by enabling controlled conditions while preserving the context of a virtual gestalt within the soundscape concept. This study explored the ecological validity of virtual environments for subjective evaluations in soundscape research, focusing on the authenticity of virtual audio-visual environments for reproducibility. Different technologies for creating and reproducing virtual environments were compared, including field recording, simulated VR, AR, and audio-only presentation, in two audio-visual reproduction settings, a head-mounted display with head-tracked headphones and a VR lab with head-locked headphones. Via a series of soundwalk- and lab-based experiments, the results indicate that field recording technologies provided the most authentic audio-visual environments, followed by AR, simulated VR, and audio-only approaches. The authenticity level influenced subjective evaluations of virtual environments, e.g., arousal/eventfulness and pleasantness. The field recording and AR-based technologies closely matched the on-site soundwalk ratings in arousal, while the other approaches scored lower. All the approaches had significantly lower pleasantness ratings compared to on-site evaluations. The choice of audio-visual reproduction technology did not significantly impact the evaluations. Overall, the results suggest virtual environments with high authenticity can be useful for future soundscape research and design.

The Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Act 2024

Abstract The Welsh Government’s policy on noise and soundscape is underpinned by two key pieces of legislation: the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and the Environment (Air Quality and Soundscapes) (Wales) Act 2024. The former established our national well-being/sustainable development goals and five ways of working that public bodies should follow in order to achieve them. The latter requires Welsh Ministers to set out their soundscape policies in a national strategy and requires public authorities to have regard to the policies in that strategy when carrying out their functions. The intent of this article is to raise international awareness amongst soundscape researchers as to how one devolved nation has incorporated the concept of soundscape in its policies and legislation and hopefully encourage the further development and dissemination of soundscape assessment and design tools that enable practitioners to better implement those policies.

Static recording apparatus for soundscape analysis in Macau

The concept of Soundscape was initially proposed to study the relationship between humans and their sonic environment. It has gathered momentum from academia to environmentalists and policymakers throughout the years. The study and characterisation of Soundscapes can be complex as it tries to take a holistic and qualitative approach rather than simply quantifying sound pressure levels. This paper introduces a comprehensive Soundscape study process in an ongoing research project in Macao (China), a small territory (32.9 km2) and one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The paper seeks to show a first version of a technical solution to systematically capture the local soundscape, analyse it, classify it, and ultimately deliver a dataset library and the intangible qualities of the environmental sound. This implementation, including technical documentation, code, and sound library with strong labelling, is presented under an open-source license to encourage future collaborative research. Finally, the paper offers suggestions on further developing the apparatus to reach a systematic and near real-time soundscape analysis with the development of a machine learning system.

The concept of soundscape and intervention

The soundscape concept provides a holistic understanding of the perception of an acoustic environment. The assessment of an acoustic environment is not only based on the contribution from different disciplines but also to be seen as a heterogeneous field of research. In regard to intervention it is a matter of collaboration to bring experiences, perception, and evaluation into the field of application. With that it becomes a technical innovation which underlies an adaption process through communities, stakeholders and the people concerned. The researches on soundscape have clearly addressed the need also to transfer their outcomes into the practice of soundscape design. Overall, soundscape research needs more political evidence of its potential to promote healthy urban environments through cognitive restoration. This will help to disseminate the outcomes from soundscape research and eventually to integrate this scientific field in the broader framework of policy making and urban planning. It is an open discussion whether and how the ISO Standard can support further application of soundscape approaches within communities. In providing procedures to be applied within community noise investigation and regulations - it would be a big step forward to enhance people's quality of life in their acoustic environments.

Soundscape exploring through choral performance and music creation

With a profound concern for the local environment and culture in Taiwan, this project integrated collected soundscape clips and mobile devices to compose and perform a cross-domain audiovisual soundscape choral concert. Drawing inspiration from M. Schafer’s soundscape concept and music education philosophy, as well as the “Three-S Model” of soundscape—sound, setting, and significance, the project aimed to develop university students’ performance and music creation skills and enhance their perception of soundscapes. Employing the concept of choral theater, the concert creatively combined collected soundscape recordings and imagery from various sites, presenting them through a multidisciplinary theatrical framework. This approach led to a reinterpretation of soundscape choral repertoire, shedding light on their historical context and contemporary relevance. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis of feedback from students, it is found that the integration of visual and auditory elements allowed the audience to have a more enriching sensory experience. Moreover, university student performers gained a heightened sense of observation and analysis of their surroundings through their involvement in specialized creations and performances. This experience allowed them to authentically connect with the essence of world music and local folk songs, fostering a deeper connection with the cultural heritage.

Soundscape

Recent studies demonstrate a significant level of interest to literature as a source of insight on sound and hearing. Attention has focused on the new ways to approach the acoustic dimensions of text, featuring narrative representation of sound in its physical characteristics and the psycho-somatic peculiarities of perception. Accordingly, the concept of soundscape, has entered critical scholarship to analyze the audible world in fiction. This essay addresses soundscape as a concept by scrutinizing the terms in which it was defined and situating soundscape in relation to nineteenth-century Gothic literature. My point of departure is the foundational work of R. Murray Schafer The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World (1977), which introduces the concept and outlines the territory of soundscape studies as the intersection of science, the arts and society, and delineates terms central to the idea of the soundscape. I will elaborate on soundscape in its threefold dimensions: the panoply of sounds, the specific location, and the subjective experience of an individual inhabiting the space. The essay then considers the concept in light of the recent studies of sound in Gothic fiction and narrows down the topic to selected short stories by British and American nineteenth-century writers: E.A. Poe, E. Nesbit, S. Warren, and M.P. Shiel, among others. The shared features of the audible world in Gothic short stories and more distinctive elements of Gothic soundscapes offer some resources for thinking about a more complex elaboration of the concept, as well as implications and future directions for scholarly work.

ENSINAR EXIGE ESCUTAR: UMA REFLEXÃO SOBRE ENSINO-APRENDIZAGEM E ECOLOGIA ACÚSTICA NAS ESCOLAS DE ARARAS-SP

In this article we intend to look into the soundscapes of schools in the city of Araras-SP and reflect on how their sounds can influence the teaching-learning process. For that, we will use a scientific literature review and a field study based on the experience of the author teachers who work in the teaching staff of the Municipal Education Network. We will approach the concept of soundscape, based on the theory of Canadian composer and educator R. Murray Schafer, who seeks to analyze in his works the unbridled growth of noise pollution in our contemporary life. Ultimately, proposals are sought to build a school environment that thinks about acoustic ecology, to make this pedagogical space more pleasant, where people can learn from each other. intend to synthesize Schafer's thoughts and connect them with a proposal to improve communication in schools, an education

Developing a taxonomy of soundscape design from real-world examples

Over the past 20 years, there has been a significant increase in soundscape studies focusing on urban scenarios. Policymakers are increasingly attracted to the concept of soundscapes, as reflected in several documents issued by international agencies that advocate a more user-centred approach when considering the urban acoustic environment. Despite widespread interest in the concept of soundscape, a consensus and systematic review of soundscape design and interventions, as well as a summary of empirical evidence on the benefits of sound methods, are still lacking. The catalogue of soundscape interventions (CSI) project aims to provide a tool for data collection and communication on soundscape practice, with the long-term goal of compiling frequent/recurring soundscape strategies into a “design toolkit” and developing a “design brief” to facilitate communication between local authorities and soundscape consultants and researchers. A platform for collecting examples of soundscape intervention has been published online, and the project is currently in its second phase of populating the example database. When sufficient practices have been gathered, a taxonomy of soundscape design will be developed, which will eventually become a “design toolkit.” To ensure that all perspectives are represented, and the taxonomy is based on consensus, stakeholders will be consulted. If a significant increase in the number of soundscape practices is detected, the taxonomy may require revision.

What is a soundscape intervention? Exploring definitions and identification criteria and a platform to gather real-world examples

Possible definitions for the concept of "soundscape intervention" and criteria that could be used to identify stages in a design-oriented framework are discussed. This is in line with the Part 4 of the ISO 12913 series on soundscape being currently developed. The long-term goal is observing frequent/recurring situations or strategies that can be collated into design toolkits and formulate design briefs that local authorities will be using to communicate with soundscape consultants. For some time already, the soundscape concept has attracted attention from policy-makers and practitioners of the built environment, as it advocates for more engagement with local communities in design processes. This is reflected in several documents published by national and international agencies calling for consultation and participation of the public in the definition of soundscape interventions. However, this intended framework did not really make any significant breakthrough in the planning and design community, possibly for the lack of conspicuous empirical evidence (i.e., case studies and success stories) showing the benefits provided by the soundscape approach, and some lack of consensus about what a "soundscape intervention" is in the first place. Therefore, an online platform will be presented that can be used for data collection of soundscape intervention examples.

Collecting and mapping soundscape data across the 15 UK national parks

The soundscape approach, as understood by the ISO 12913 series, is most applied in urban settings, aiming beyond noise control in order to holistically employ its quantitative and qualitative facets. On the other side, the current understanding of the soundscape concept in bioacoustics and acoustic ecology is less focused on perception. There is generally a lot of public interest in how to preserve the opportunity for people to experience the "natural quiet" and "the sounds of nature", and the need to balance that with the protection of the natural areas and national parks from the noise that the visitors themselves generate while on site. However, specific investigations in these environments are scarce in the UK. Moreover, while there might be acoustic environments and sound sources that people identify with national parks, they are not systematically documented nor implemented in the national parks' management plans. Therefore, we propose a framework starting with a quasi-crowd-sourced acquisition of soundscape data and mapping those to a freely accessible GIS platform such as Google Earth, leading towards identifying soundscape conservation targets and management tools for the UK national parks, further raising the awareness of the value of sound as a resource.

중국 역사문화거리에 문화 중심의 사운드스케이프 기초 연구

Historic and cultural districts are the precious wealth of a city, and the soundscape is an important part of the environment of historic and cultural districts. In recent years, people have signed the Nara Authenticity Document and other international conventions, marking that they began to realize the significance and role of soundscape for the protection of historic and cultural districts. Based on the trend, this study takes the historic and cultural districts from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China as the research object, and summarizes the basic concept of the culture-centered soundscape in the historic and cultural districts, which provides the theoretical basis for the subsequent research on the remediation and protection of it. It adapts the research methods of advance research and theoretical investigation of literature data. And it concludes the definition, type and characteristics of the soundscape in the historic and cultural districts through the collation and analysis of the documents. It also concludes the definition, type, constituent elements and characteristics of culture-centered soundscape in historic and cultural districts through the combination of the connotation and characteristics of “culture” and the research literature of culture-centered soundscape. Finally, it derives the basic concept of culture-centered soundscape in historic and cultural districts, which provides a theoretical basis and guidance for a series of subsequent studies and the protection of it.

Investigation of indoor soundscape indicators according to the types of occupants' activity in autonomous vehicles

Electric and autonomous vehicles have brought about a paradigm shift in interior space design and are now replacing their functions as spaces for living, work and leisure activities. Therefore, in order to design the optimal sound environment for the interior space of the vehicle, it is necessary to investigate the interior soundscape of the vehicle based on the type of occupant's activity and the purpose and function of the space. However, although the soundscape concept has been applied to the design of urban and natural spaces and large indoor spaces such as open plan offices, there is no study on the interior space of vehicles. In this study, soundscape indicators were set according to the activity patterns of autonomous vehicle occupants. Through the result, it is possible to derive vehicle interior soundscape design factors based on the evaluation of each type of sound environment presented.

What Do We Mean by “Soundscape”? A Functional Description

The concept of soundscape was originally coined to study the relationship between humans and their sonic environment. Since then, several definitions of soundscapes have been proposed based on musical, acoustical and ecological perspectives. However, the causal mechanisms that underlie soundscapes have often been overlooked. As a consequence, the term “soundscape” is frequently used in an ambiguous way, alternatively pointing to objective realities or subjective percepts. Through an interdisciplinary review, we identified the main biotic and abiotic factors that condition non-anthropogenic terrestrial soundscapes. A source-filter approach was used to describe sound sources, sound propagation phenomena and receiver’s characteristics. Interdisciplinary information was cross-referenced in order to define relationships between factors, sound sources and filters. Those relationships and the associated references were organized into a functional block diagram. This representation was used to question the different uses and meanings of the soundscape concept found in the literature. Three separate categories were then suggested: distal soundscape, proximal soundscape and perceptual soundscape. Finally, practical examples of these different categories were described, in relation to the diagram. This new systemic approach to soundscapes should help ecoacousticians, bioacousticians, psychoacousticians and environmental managers to better understand soundscapes and protect natural areas in a more significant way.

Sonorities and Cities (in Times of Crisis)

The aim of this article is to explore some possibilities of hearing the city as a tool for an extended exploration and understanding of different aspects of urban dynamics and contradictions in socio-anthropological analysis. Starting from considerations of the secondary importance given to the sense of hearing in social research and theory, and the growing interest in the integration of all the senses for the construction of an embodied research apparatus which would contemplate the multidimensionality of everyday life, I explore two perspectives: the one contained in the different uses of the concept of soundscape, and the one referred to more recent appropriations of Henri Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis. Complementing the reflection, I use the theoretical suggestions based on sound perceptions, to produce some insights regarding the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on cities and everyday life.

On the Opportunities of the Soundscape Approach to Revitalise Acoustics Training in Undergraduate Architectural Courses

Soundscape research has been gaining prominence in studies on the built environment. The soundscape concept is defined as the acoustic environment as perceived and/or understood by a person in context. Compared with traditional building acoustics, the soundscape concept brings interesting perspectives—but also challenges—for undergraduate architectural curricula, where it tries to strike a balance between qualitative and quantitative methodologies, a theoretical approach that in the context of soundscape studies it is often referred to as ‘triangulation’. Starting from real-world higher education courses, the aim of this paper is to examine how the soundscape approach can be integrated into teaching building acoustics at the undergraduate level in architectural courses. Methods such as soundwalks, acoustic measurements, and computational simulations that are commonly used in soundscape research are introduced in educational projects as tools for students to experience, analyse, and articulate the narrative around the sound environment to inform their design concepts and details.

Designing Urban Soundscape for Various Activities based on Soundscape Expectation

The concept of soundscape aims to provide a more holistic understanding of the acoustic environment by taking several aspects into account, such as human perception, the acoustic environment and the context of the space. The soundscape concept is primarily concerned with the human experience and is considered more effective to access the acoustic quality of urban areas than traditional sound measurement. Soundscape analysis was used in this study to determine the relationship between various activities occurring in urban areas and their associated sound sources. This relationship can be used as design guidance for urban soundscape. The interaction was analyzed using the soundscape expectation approach, which is based on people’s memories of urban areas. The participants of this study were requested to compose an ideal acoustic environment according to their expectation for doing four activities: reading, relaxing, talking with friends, and playing with children. According to the data of the participants’ composition there is no significant difference in the overall sound levels between various activities. As a result, the appropriate acoustic environment cannot be determined solely based on the overall sound level. Individuals have varying expectations of sound sources when engaging in various activities.

From the Birth of the Soundscape Concept to the Sound Ambient in Disneyland-Paris

Giovanni De Zorzi traces the historical and aesthetical background of ‘soundscape’, from the sound/noise opposition in physics to the reconsideration of ‘noise’ by the avant-gardes of the twentieth century arriving to the conceptions of Murray Schafer and Steven Feld, which gave birth to many nowadays disciplines. After this, Alessio Calandra deals with the possible influence of the soundscape of Disneyland Park, an amusement park in Disneyland Paris: he begins from some ‘physical’ places of the Park, such as Main Street U.S.A., Frontierland, Adventureland, and arrives to the detailed analysis of their specific soundscape related to the sale of Disney-branded gadgets and products within the park.

Sound evaluation of urban spaces in the central area of São Paulo

The present work evaluates noise conditions to which people are subject in the central region of São Paulo city. Strategic points were chosen for sound assessment, considering quantitative and qualitative aspects. Different occupancy profiles, height of buildings, constructive density, number of empty spaces, width of the roads and capacity of vehicle flow, were selected. In addition to acoustic measurements, an evaluation of the profile and flow of the vehicles has been made, to serve as input for simulation in a computational model of urban environmental noise and noise mapping of selected areas. The concept of soundscape was approached with the characterization of local sound sources and their sound perception. Questionnaires were applied for subjective assessment and the profile of the interviewees was also characterized. This attitude is important because it leads to an understanding of who exactly is exposed and affected by certain sound levels, and how the same sound level can generate different perceptions. This sensibility while approaching the subject makes people stop being just numbers and more human strategies are adopted for urban planning. At the end, an image was produced to summarize the overall analysis performed.