An Experimental Study: The Restorative Effect of Soundscape Elements in a Simulated Open-Plan Office

Effect of Faint Road Traffic Noise Mixed in Birdsong on the Perceived Restorativeness and Listeners’ Physiological Response: An Exploratory Study

“…Therefore, such a noise would have an effect on restoration physiologically when people are listening to natural sounds, even if the noise is too slight to be perceived subjectively. This finding deepened the knowledge on the effect of background noise on the restorativeness of natural sounds because most of the preceding studies used exaggerated acoustic stimuli in experiments and did not examine effects of such a minor difference (e.g., [4,5,8]). The finding of this study also indicates that several studies which exposed participants to each sound for less than 50 s might have overlooked the effect of artificial components (e.g., 30-s sound excerpts were evaluated subjectively in Axelsson et al [24]; eight-second sound excerpts were assessed subjectively and physiologically in [6]).…”

“…Some of these natural sounds are birdsong, as well as water burbling in rivers, streams, and fountains [1][2][3]. In addition, research by Ma and Shu [4] revealed that these soothing sounds reduce fatigue and annoyance in people, and that auditory interventions may be more effective than visual stimulations in some circumstances under one particular condition. According to Li and Kang [5], birdsong in a forest at dawn and an ocean sound on a calm sunny day decreased the levels of the heart rate (HR), respiratory frequency (RF), and respiratory depth (RD) and increased the values of amplitude of the R-wave (∆R), heart rate variability (HRV), electroencephalography alpha activity (α-EEG), and electroencephalography alpha activity (β-EEG).…”

“…According to Li and Kang [5], birdsong in a forest at dawn and an ocean sound on a calm sunny day decreased the levels of the heart rate (HR), respiratory frequency (RF), and respiratory depth (RD) and increased the values of amplitude of the R-wave (∆R), heart rate variability (HRV), electroencephalography alpha activity (α-EEG), and electroencephalography alpha activity (β-EEG). Among these natural sounds, birdsong was most frequently used as a representative of natural sound [2][3][4][6][7][8][9], and all the studies revealed that birdsong is more restorative than anthropogenic noise.…”

“…Firstly, the types of natural sounds used in earlier studies are limited. Ma and Shu [4] concluded that birdsong and sound of water were the most preferred natural sounds based on the results of a laboratory experiment, but these sounds were not compared with other natural sounds, and instead were compared with artificial sounds like footsteps, ventilating noise, and traffic noise. Secondly, not every study contains adequate information on acoustic stimuli presented in its experiment.…”

Soundscape Clock: Soundscape Compositions That Display the Time of Day

“…Nature sounds have been shown to mask annoying background sounds in offices [5]. Hui Ma and Shan Shu found that soundscapes had a stronger impact on psychological restoration in simulated open-plan offices compared with visual scenes and both continuous and intermittent had positive effects [6]. Birdsongs have been found to influence perceived naturalness, annoyance, and pleasantness of road traffic noise environments with low sound levels [7].…”