Urban Sound Environments Research Articles

Evaluation of sound environment characteristics: Comparative study between objective and subjective criteria

The evaluation of urban sound environment quality depends on quantitative information as well as the opinion of city dwellers. In order to underline the relation between objective and subjective points of view, a comparative study was carried out. The subjective survey consisted in listening to several binaural sound recordings of very short extracts from the urban scene, called ‘‘sonoscene.’’ During these sessions, the listeners’ opinions were noted. The binaural sound recordings are performed in accordance with the ‘‘soundwalk’’ method explained in previous papers [C. Semidor, ASA 2004, ASA 2005]. The same binaural sound recordings were analyzed in form of objective criteria such as Equivalent Sound Level, Loudness, Roughness, etc. This paper deals with the comparison between some of these objective criteria and subjective judgments such as Lack or Presence of traffic noise, Lack or Presence of human activities, Spatial Dimension, Attractiveness or Annoyance, etc. These first results point out some significant correlations between Loudness and Attractiveness for example, according to the nature of the sound sources (traffic, human activity).

Study on the improvement of urban sound environment by the sound with inaudible high frequency components

Study on the improvement of urban sound environment by the sound with inaudible high frequency components

Study on the improvement of urban sound environment by the sound with inaudible high frequency components

Study on the improvement of urban sound environment by the sound with inaudible high frequency components

Listening to a town: The urban soundscape as an image of the city

City dwellers often have a visual representation of their town. They are able to identify some areas from pictures. But, urban sounds are also a characteristic part of the city’s identity. A previous paper [C. Semidor, Proceedings 20th PLEA, Santiago, Chile (2003)] shows the possibility to distinguish the soundscape of a ‘‘car-free’’ Sunday from the soundscape of a Sunday with cars. The proposed method based on the so-called soundwalk could be very illustrative for this suggestion. These soundwalks are sound recordings made with a ‘‘dummy’’ head and a DAT recorder, on walks following a trajectory with different urban forms and, in this case study, in different towns where a tramway is running. The acoustical images (time versus frequency graphs) of the sound signals could be a representation of these soundscapes. This type of information could help urban planners and other town designers to improve the acoustic comfort of the cities. The objective of this approach is to valorize what is pleasant and agreeable in the urban sound environment.

Influence of visual setting on sound ratings in an urban environment

We assessed how listener's judgments of a set of urban sound environments were affected by co-occurring visual settings. In artificial audiovisual environments, subjects rated eight urban sound environments (recordings) when they were associated with five visual settings (four color slides varying in degree of urbanization and a control condition with no slide), along two sound scales (Unpleasant–Pleasant and Stressful–Relaxing). In general, the more urban the visual setting, the more negative the sound ratings. However, this influence depended on the type of sound. It was marked for recordings which did not include human sounds (particularly strong for bird song and weaker for traffic noise), but was absent for all recordings which included human sounds (footsteps and voices). Results are discussed in terms of the degree of matching between visual and sound information, and the degree of implication of the perceiver with these sound environments.

A study on design of urban sound environment

A study on design of urban sound environment