Soundscape Design Research Articles

Virtual Reality-Based Multi-Sensory Design of Chinese Gardens under the Perspective of Spatial Narrative

Abstract This paper makes comprehensive use of virtual reality, virtual plants, and other technologies, integrates parametric plants and buildings and other modeling methods, and flexibly manages and organizes all kinds of garden elements through digital vector layers. Based on the OSG graphic rendering engine, it visualizes all sorts of 3D garden landscape models. Combining multi-sensory expressions, the parameter-driven multi-sensory design of virtual Chinese gardens is comprehensively constructed. The findings indicate that the scheme with decentralized placement on both sides has a receding time of 312s, and the area of human flow density has been enhanced. In the soundscape design, the birdsong sound was favored more, and the mean value of the birdsong sound scores in the botanical garden, plaza, and stream was 4.43. The Sig values of experiential, realism, interactivity, and content richness between Group A and Group B were all less than 0.05. Therefore, this paper successfully designs and realizes multisensory interactions between people and the garden scenario design.

Developing a taxonomy of soundscape interventions from a catalogue of real-world examples

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in urban soundscapes and a shift towards a user-focused approach in urban sound environments. Despite this interest, there is no comprehensive taxonomy for soundscape design available. The Catalogue of Soundscape Interventions (CSI) project aims to fill this gap by creating a tool to collect and share data on real soundscape practices, with the goal of developing a design toolkit and brief to facilitate communication between local authorities, consultants, and researchers. An online platform has been launched to gather instances of soundscape interventions. This paper proposes eight dimensions of soundscape interventions and presents a taxonomy that categorizes these interventions based on recurring strategies and goals observed in 43 practice cases collected. These dimensions include stages, contributors, scale, period of time, intervention types, public involvement, aims and purposes, and approaches. As soundscape practices increase in complexity and variety, the taxonomy can be revised and expanded. Nevertheless, the provided taxonomy serves as an orientation aid for understanding, analyzing, and designing soundscapes, leading to the development of more harmonious and contextually appropriate acoustic environments.

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.

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.

Indoor soundscape design of autonomous vehicles that comprehensively applies acoustic characteristics of architectural space type

According to the paradigm shift in the indoor space design of future autonomous vehicles, the indoor space of the vehicle was classified according to the purpose of use and the optimal soundscape design for each type was proposed. The vehicle selected for the measurement can be the basic type of future autonomous vehicles, a relatively wide van suitable for building space investigation, and the space target was selected as spaces for listening to music, working (meeting), and resting. Accordingly, for the soundscape design, an audible sound source was produced and used for evaluation by conducting a sound field survey and computer simulation inside the vehicle. The indoor soundscape of the vehicle was evaluated by providing binaural sound source in the auditory test environment. The evaluation indicators were selected based on the indoor soundscape parameters in the architectural spaces such as concert halls and office buildings.

Cultivating a harmonious soundscape in urban public space: An empirical study of sound and activities

This study examines the relationship between sound and activities in urban public spaces in an attempt to create a pleasant acoustic environment that improves the quality of activities conducted in such areas. The study collected data from park visitors in Bandung using field measurements and questionnaires. The findings indicate that sound sources have a more significant effect on visitors' participation in activities than the overall soundscape quality. Visitors would continue to engage in activities despite the high traffic noise levels as long as the appropriate sound sources are present. Additionally, the study identified that the Social-Nature Connection activities require a soundscape that is lower in background noise, has some of the natural sound components, and with the addition of music to provide some dynamic vibes. On the other hand, the Restorative Retreats activities show no relation with either sound sources or noise level, and Exploring Natural Landscapes activities are influenced positively by man-made sound, specifically recreational sound. This study provides valuable insights that may be used to improve the design of soundscapes in urban public spaces, enabling designers to create a more balanced acoustic environment that supports various activities and enhances the quality of visitors' experiences.

Sound perception in virtual environments

Virtual environments have been developing and changing the understanding of a space by means design, perception and usage. This study aims to contribute to the literature on the improvement of the auditory perception and cognition of virtual spaces used for education, training, and gaming purposes. This study proposes to offer a realistic representation of soundscapes in virtual environments according to spatial qualities instead of misleading synthetic sounds by integrating acoustical simulations with the immersive environment and questioning the experience of a regular user. The study explores the effects of acoustically simulated and immersive virtual soundscape design methods on auditory perception through changing forms and materials by series of cognitive experiments. The results revealed that the participants achieve more accurate results of source-localization, self-localization, and distance guessing in an immersive environment than in the simulated environment. Also, they were more aware of the soundwalk route, spent more time on tasks, and evaluated the experience more positively in an immersive environment compared to simulations. Despite the placement of the auralizations from the simulations as sound sources in immersive environments, there is still a lack of auditory representation of spatial qualities compared to the accurate calculation of acoustical parameters in a simulated environment.

Interactive soundscape design in enhancing perceived safety in urban spaces at night

Based on previous findings relating soundscape to the psychological perception of urban pedestrians at night, this study selected several typical nighttime urban spaces that are prone to trigger crime panic emotions for the experiment, and used an interactive soundscape adjustment method in which respondents independently mixed and adjusted six types of sound levels to obtain the combination of sound environments most conducive to a sense of safety, while completing the pre- and post-optimised sound environment safety The perception research questionnaire was also completed. The results show that the soundscape created by people has a positive effect on the perception of safety. Footsteps and conversations were the most popular sounds in the soundscape mix, and the results inform the development of a friendly sound environment for the city at night, increasing interaction with the urban public space by enhancing the perception of safety of pedestrians at night. Interactive soundscape design is more effective in enhancing safety in parkland than in street spaces and river walkways. Key words: Perceived safety, Interactive adjustment, Soundscape Creation

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.

Can the perceived affective quality scales evaluate the restorativeness of soundscapes?

Affective quality, defined as the ability to cause a change in core affect, is the one aspect of soundscape evaluation by people. To appropriately use the eight perceived affective quality scales (PAQS) proposed in ISO/TS 12913-2 in the soundscape design process, we must know what aspects the scales can evaluate accurately. This study examined whether the PAQS can evaluate the restorativeness of soundscapes using the PAQS and the perceived restorative scale (PRS). The results of our two soundwalks and an audio-visual experiment showed that the evaluation structure of the PRS was four-dimensional. Therefore, the PAQS alone cannot express the restorativeness of soundscapes correctly.

The effects of environmental sensitivity and noise sensitivity on soundscape evaluation

The perception of sound is a complex process that is influenced by not only the physical characteristics of the sound, but also individual characteristics of people. This study aimed to determine whether noise sensitivity and environmental sensitivity have a significant effect on people's soundscape evaluations, including sound source identification, perceived affective quality, and overall quality. Sixty participants aged 19–36 years were exposed to audiovisual stimuli derived from 10 commonly encountered urban scenes and assessed the soundscape quality. The study revealed that noise sensitivity did not significantly affect the evaluation of the soundscapes, whereas environmental sensitivity had a significant impact. Specifically, the full scale of environmental sensitivity had a significant effect on soundscape appropriateness, and the aesthetic sensitivity (AES) subscale of environmental sensitivity had a significant effect on perceived natural sound dominance, soundscape pleasantness, and overall impressions. The physical sensitivity (PHS) subscale significantly affected soundscape pleasantness, overall impressions, and perceived loudness. Moreover, an interaction effect between site and environmental sensitivity was observed in the evaluation of soundscape pleasantness and overall impressions; in sites dominated by natural environments, individuals with higher environmental sensitivity tended to perceive higher levels of soundscape pleasantness. Conversely, in sites dominated by built environments, individuals with higher environmental sensitivity tended to perceive lower levels of soundscape pleasantness. Similar patterns were observed in the overall impression evaluations. These findings can help policymakers and urban planning practitioners to recognise the diverse needs of various people and highlight the need for targeted soundscape design based on user sensitivity.

Transitioning concert hall soundscapes to vehicle interiors based on psychoacoustic evaluations

In this study, in line with the paradigm shift in the design of interior spaces for future autonomous vehicles, the vehicle interior spaces were categorized according to their suitability for music appreciation and a design for an optimal soundscape design to that of a concert hall was proposed. Based on the sound field investigation conducted with 360-deg camera video and binaural audio recorded inside the vehicle, audibilized computer models were created in a virtual reality environment for comparison with conventional rectangular halls. These models' auralization audio files were subject to a psychoacoustic evaluation experiment of the soundscape. Evaluation indicators were selected based on the collected data, and through a comparative analysis of these indicators, parameters for transitioning the soundscape of a concert hall into a vehicle interior were proposed.

Designing Public Soundscapes through Social Architecture and Soundscape Approaches: Reflective Review of Architectural Design Studio

This paper provides a reflective review of an architectural design studio that utilized both social architecture and soundscape approaches to create human-centered and context-based designs for urban public spaces. During field research, students in the studio analyzed four different public spaces in Marina Central BID, Singapore, employing a combination of social architecture (behavioral trace and activity mapping) and soundscape (acoustic measurement and soundwalk) methods. Through this process, the students identified issues related to social architecture and soundscapes and developed soundscape design strategies to improve the quality of the public spaces. The soundscape design strategies were categorized into three groups: the introduction of desirable sounds, the reinforcement of desired sounds, and the reduction in unwanted sounds. This paper shows that the integration of social architecture into soundscape design education enables students to better comprehend the social–behavioral aspects of the environment and create more comprehensive and enjoyable public soundscapes.

The effect of water sound level in virtual reality: A study of restorative benefits in young adults through immersive natural environments

Virtual Reality (VR) can bring a person to a restorative natural environment—an immersive experience containing elements from blue and green space that help reduce stress and anxiety. However, the effect of different water sound levels on psychological and physiological health remains unclear. This study used a VR natural environment—combining forest scene and waterfall sounds—to compare the low and high water sound levels' effects on individuals' psychological (affective quality of place and state anxiety relief) and physiological benefits (heart rate variability). We focused on two comparisons in each of the two dimensions: (1) a before-and-after comparison that analyzes the effectiveness of the water sounds, and (2) a low-and-high comparison that investigates the differences between the two sound levels. A total of 45 university students (aged between 19 and 23) participated in the experiment. The results show that both low- and high-decibel levels improved in psychological dimension, and decrease individuals’ heart rates from anxiety status. More importantly, while the high-decibel served to awaken emotions, the low-decibel was more effective at calming emotions and relieving anxiety. Overall, we found that natural waterscape sounds relieve transient anxiety states and promote healthy autonomic nervous activity. This study provides evidence for the planning of healthy environmental interaction patterns and the design of urban soundscapes.

Connecting tourists to musical destinations: The role of musical geographical imagination and aesthetic responses in music tourism

While the value of music in connecting tourists to destinations is recognized, its mechanism remains unclear. This study adopts aesthetic responses to explore how musical geographical imagination influences tourists' place bonding and subsequent behavioral intentions. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study: 1) elucidates the connotation and effects of musical geographical imagination integrating with aesthetics in tourism research; 2) shows that tourists' aesthetic cognitive and affective responses to musical geographical imagination strengthen place bonding, and buttresses the importance of affective responses in leveraging behavioral intentions; and 3) indicates that tourists’ responses to musical stimuli differ in direct and indirect destination experience contexts, demonstrating that musical stimulus context moderates on associations of imagination with cognitive responses, and affective responses with behaviroal intentions. This study empirically expands the imagination from individual auditory spaces to a destination and advances tourism aesthetics research; it guides using music in tourism sensory marketing and tourism soundscape design.

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.

Noise and soundscape in Welsh planning policy

In Wales, noise policy now sits within the sustainable development framework of our Well-being of Future Generations Act. Under this Act, public bodies must look to the long term; take an integrated approach; involve a diversity of the population in decisions affecting them; work with others in a collaborative way to find shared sustainable solutions; and act to prevent problems from occurring or getting worse. The Welsh Government has adopted a Noise and Soundscape Action Plan calling for the creation of appropriate soundscapes, meaning "the right acoustic environment in the right time and place". We have rewritten Planning Policy Wales and included appropriate soundscapes amongst our National Sustainable Placemaking Outcomes. We committed to providing further guidance to support planning policy on air quality, noise and soundscape, and drafted a new Technical Advice Note, with a supporting document on soundscape design. Soundscape design in Wales means more than just design of the sound environment. It is a process giving as much weight to people and context as to the sounds themselves, from the outset. This approach is expected to be followed, referring to soundscape standards where appropriate, when and to the extent it may be expected to result in better placemaking.

Non-normative sonic space: exploring the divergent capacities of soundscape design in the built environment

This paper aims to situate disabled and neurodivergent people's experiences at the heart of research concerning human perception and response to soundscape design in the built environment. The paper outlines the process and insights gained through a series of participatory binaural soundwalks held in London between 2016 - 2019. Each soundwalk invited a disabled and/or neurodivergent person to discuss their experiences of and responses to soundscape and acoustic design whilst walking through a public environment such as a gallery, café or theatre. The chapter uses a multimodal framework for discourse analysis to analyse the soundwalk data, highlighting the divergent and non-normative affective potential of sound in socially public spaces. Findings consider elements such as how changes in reverberation time may trigger involuntary words and noises for people with Tourettes and how a lack of understanding of noise levels might increase anxiety for people with post-traumatic stress disorder. By generating new knowledge and understanding of the divergent capacities of soundscape design to affect and be affected by people within the built environment, the chapter aims to increase the opportunity for researchers across disciplines to think critically about the societal repercussions of design that privileges a normative ear, body and mind.

Developing a holistic tranquillity assessment method from a soundscape design approach

The assessment of tranquillity considered in Environmental Impact Assessments does not currently benefit from a single 'industry accepted' multidisciplinary approach. Current assessments rely mainly on objective measurements of imagery, sound, and investigator expert opinion. These approaches do not fully consider the context of the site, the interaction between different environmental disciplines or the perceptual aspects of Tranquillity. Standardised soundscape methodologies (ISO12913-2:2018) are now used to measure perception of acoustic environments in context. This study explores a soundscape approach to tranquillity assessment of heritage assets. Is it possible to develop a holistic assessment method based upon the data collection methods of soundscape principals of ISO 12913-2:2018 that is robust, scalable and applicable to the methods of assessment used within the built environment? Existing research on attention restorative theory is used to identify a set of attributes for use in a Soundwalk questionnaire. The methodology is tested by the authors conducting a Soundwalk at a set of heritage locations located within the Knowledge Quarter of London. The findings are supportive with recommendations for further development of the method that could involve different stakeholders that have local expertise and governance.

Role of community engagement in soundscape design of rural areas

This paper presents results of questionnaires adapted from ISO 12913-2 distributed among the residents of a rural area, following numerous complaints of noise and other pollution from a recently build waste transfer station in the UK. Based on acoustic measurements, specific sound levels from the industrial site were predicted at each of the respondents' assessment location. Participants included those who lived as close to the site as 200m where the sound from the site was +15dB above background sound level (BGL), and as far as 800m with the sound from site -10dB above BGL. Surprisingly, all the respondents indicated that they could hear sounds from the industrial site to a higher or lower extent, they were all extremely stressed and annoyed by it and they all desired it to be supressed. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that (1) soundscape is a multidisciplinary approach, (2) soundscape assessment in rural areas may vary from those designed for urban areas, and (3) early engagement with local residents when introducing a new industrial sound to the soundscape in a rural area may result in a better chance of approval, particularly for a site with potential economic benefits for the community. This paper also discusses how the soundscape approach, alongside tackling conventional noise problems, may contribute to environmental management and local planning in rural areas, particularly focusing on introducing and managing sounds from industrial sites.