Associations between Personal Attitudes towards COVID-19 and Public Space Soundscape Assessment: An Example from Antwerp, Belgium

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown events and policies that followed, led to significant changes in the built environment and how it is experienced by people and communities. Among those, variations in the acoustic environments were some of the most noticeable in cities. This study investigated the relationships between the perception of the acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and different personal factors such as attitudes towards the pandemic and noise sensitivity, by performing a survey with 109 participants in an urban green public space in Antwerp (Belgium), shortly after most restrictions issued by the government were lifted in September 2020 when the first contamination wave ended. While preliminary in nature, the results of this data collection campaign show that people actively changing their behaviors (using less public transport or cycling more) assessed the soundscapes as less vibrant/exciting. People who were more concerned about the pandemic tended to notice more natural sounds and noise from traffic on nearby local roads. This same subset also put a bigger importance on the environmental quality of the public space than in the pre-pandemic period. Noise sensitivity also played a role, as an association was found between more-than-average noise sensitive persons and those more worried regarding the pandemic. Overall, the findings of this study confirm that at least part of the people have started to perceive the public space, including its soundscape, differently since the start of the pandemic.

Sons al Balcó: A Comparative Analysis of WASN-Based LAeq Measured Values with Perceptual Questionnaires in Barcelona during the COVID-19 Lockdown

“…Available subjective data are the main constraint of this work. It is true that more than one hundred of surveys were included in the comparison (which is a number consistent with other similar questionnaire-based studies published [ 59 , 60 , 61 ]). However, for attaining higher representation, a larger amount of opinions should be taken into account.…”

Landscape Perception and the Importance of Recreation Areas for Students during the Pandemic Time

“…Expanding the survey to include students in other cities as well as members of other social groups, particularly senior citizens, is under consideration. In addition, there are plans to assess the level of activity in urban space and the level of satisfaction of its users, which will enable assessing the perception of the landscape of a given city [ 106 ] also based on its soundscape [ 107 ].…”

Effects of Visual Stimulus on Soundscape Perception: A Pilot Study Using Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR)

“…In contemporary society, the fulfilment of material needs has largely been achieved due to economic and social advancements. Consequently, people's attention has shifted ---------towards the convenience, health, and safety of their living environment on a global scale [1]. However, the increase in urban noise resulting from industrialization and transportation has become a cause for concern [2,3].…”

“…The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), has proposed an international standard for soundscape research, leading to a broad international consensus on the definition of 'soundscape' [5], which is a sound environment that is perceived or understood by humans in its context. Based on years of experimental research, ISO/TS 12913-2 and ISO/TS 12913-3 [6,7] have also proposed standardized approaches to the collection of physical data, experimental methods, and emotional evaluation indicators for soundscapes [1]. In recent years, soundscapes have been studied extensively, with the sound source and the surrounding environment being recognized as the two significant physical components of a soundscape [8].…”

“…In recent years, soundscapes have been studied extensively, with the sound source and the surrounding environment being recognized as the two significant physical components of a soundscape [8]. Studies have focused on various acoustic and environmental components, with research conducted both in the field and in the laboratory [1,[9][10][11][12]. Experimental findings have been instrumental in designing new soundscapes, enhancing existing sound environments, and formulating new policies [1,13,14].…”