A socio-cultural perspective of sound and location perception: A case study in Aachen, Germany

Weng

et al. 2022

IJERPH

Soundscape is the production of sounds and the acoustic environment, and it emphasizes peoples’ perceiving and experiencing process in the context. To this end, this paper focuses on the Pearl River Delta in China, and implements an empirical study based on the soundscape evaluation data from the Participatory Soundscape Sensing (PSS) system, and the geospatial data from multiple sources. The optimal variable set with 24 features are successfully used to establish a random forest model to predict the soundscape comfort of a new site (F1 = 0.61). Results show that the acoustic factors are most important to successfully classify soundscape comfort (averaged relative importance of 17.45), subsequently ranking by built environment elements (11.28), temporal factors (9.59), and demographic factors (9.14), while landscape index (8.60) and land cover type (7.71) seem to have unclear importance. Furthermore, the partial dependence analysis provides the answers about the appropriate threshold or category of various variables to quantitatively or qualitatively specify the necessary management and control metrics for maintaining soundscape quality. These findings suggest that mainstreaming the soundscape in the coupled natural–human systems and clarifying the mechanisms between soundscape perception and geospatial factors can be beneficial to create a high-quality soundscape in human habitats.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Constitutes the High-Quality Soundscape in Human Habitats? Utilizing a Random Forest Model to Explore Soundscape and Its Geospatial Factors Behind

Weng

et al. 2022

IJERPH

“…This study employed studies of the park soundscapes based on three aspects: objective acoustic environment by equivalent continuous sound pressure level (Shao et al, 2022), subjective acoustic environment, measured by perceived sound intensity (Engel et al, 2016;Kang & Zhang, 2010;Kuwano et al, 1991) and perceived soundscape by the dominance of sound sources (Jeon & Hong., 2015;Liu et al, 2013), and soundscape perceptual attributes (Axelsson et al, 2010;Hong & Jeon, 2013). The subjective well-being measures are based on a single-item Likert scale to measure happiness and satisfaction after park visitation (Yuen et al, 2020).…”

Section: Variables and Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subjective measurements of the environment in the selected parks were measured based on a 5-point Likert scale regarding perceived overall sound intensity (Engel et al, 2016;Kang & Zhang, 2010;Kuwano et al, 1991). Mean scores of three and above signify that the selected park is louder than expected, while those below three refer to quieter parks than expected.…”

Section: Subjective Acoustic Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Perceived Soundscape and Sound Environment on Subjective Well-being of Park Visitors

Siaw Ling Lee,

Hosni,

Rusli

et al. 2023

JSSH

Urban parks are public leisure areas that stimulate good feelings and alleviate stress. Studies of park soundscapes have shown that natural soundscapes are associated with higher restorations after park visitations. Little is known whether different parks with similar sound sources would result in different perceived subjective well-being and stress reduction of the park visitors. This paper offers deeper insight into the Malaysian parks’ perceived soundscapes and highlights the effects after visitations on subjective well-being and stress reduction. On-site surveys were conducted in four selected parks in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, with 428 park visitors as the study’s sample. From March to May 2022, respondents were recruited with random sampling method. Acoustic measurements and perceptual responses to the park’s soundscape were recorded during the survey sessions. The relationships between objective and subjective measurements of the environment with perceived subjective well-being of the park users were evaluated with Spearman’s correlation tests. Findings revealed that sound levels of the parks from objective measurements differ from the perceived loudness of the park. Perceived soundscape is correlated with subjective well-being and sound environment with the satisfaction level of the park users after visitations. The findings also suggest that sounds from activities in parks increase the park users’ soundscape experience and well-being. These results implicate Malaysian park planning and management by serving a further understanding of the relationship between the soundscape of the parks and how they improve the well-being of park users.

“…O método de pós-processamento de dados adotado neste estudo foi a utilização de variáveis dummy (variável qualitativa) binária ou dicotômica, com a finalidade de ajudar na quantificação de questões com respostas múltiplas, como, por exemplo, a pergunta sobre motivação de frequentar o parque (questão 5) (ALKHARUSI, 2012;ENGEL et al 2020).…”

Section: Pós Processamento De Dadosunclassified

Soundscape analysis during the flexibilisation phase of restrictions measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in urban parks in Curitiba – Paraná.

Maciel

Engel

Zannin

2022

RNGC

The present study aims to characterise the soundscape of two parks in Curitiba (Bacacheri Park and Botanical Garden), along with a relaxation phase of sanitary containment measures of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, during the year 2021. The authors collected subjective data from 200 participants (100 in each park) about perceived sound sources, sound annoyance generated by specific sources, functionality and familiarity of the parks, demographic data, and motivation for using the parks. The equivalent sound pressure levels were monitored over 15 minutes at various spots inside parks. Subjective data were analysed using the IBM SPSS 27® statistical software, and a Two-step Cluster Analysis was adopted. The cluster analysis results satisfactorily demonstrated the soundscape characterisation of the investigated parks. Such results showed that users are not bothered by the sounds of the region in Bacacheri Park and are slightly or moderately bothered by traffic sounds in the Botanical Garden. It was possible to verify the profile of the parks' users. Most women aged 18-35 have higher education and live near the parks. At Bacacheri Park, users mentioned that one of the motivations for using the park was "a safe place to relax in times of a pandemic".