Associations between Positive Health-Related Effects and Soundscapes Perceptual Constructs: A Systematic Review

Abstract

In policy-making and research alike, environmental sounds are often considered only as psychophysical stressors, leading to adverse health effects. The soundscape approach, on the other hand, aims to extend the scope of sound-related research to consider sounds as resources, promoting healthy and supportive environments. The ISO 12913-1 standard defined soundscapes as acoustic environments “as perceived by people, in context.” The aim of this study was assessing associations between positive soundscapes (e.g., pleasant, calm, less annoying) and positive health-related effects (e.g., increased restoration, reduced stress-inducing mechanisms, etc.). Studies collecting data about individual responses to urban acoustic environments, and individual responses on psychophysical well-being were selected, looking at cases where positive effects were observed. The Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed databases were searched for peer-reviewed journal papers published in English between 1 January 1991 and 31 May 2018, with combinations of the keywords “soundscape” and at least one among “health”, “well-being” or “quality of life.” An additional manual search was performed on the reference lists of the retrieved items. Inclusion criteria were: (1) including at least one measure of soundscape dimensions as per the ISO 12913-1 definition; (2) including at least one health-related measure (either physiological or psychological); (3) observing/discussing a “positive” effect of the soundscape on the health-related outcome. The search returned 130 results; after removing duplicates, two authors screened titles and abstracts and selected 19 papers for further analysis. Seven studies were eventually included, with 2783 participants in total. Each study included at least a valence-related soundscape measure. Regarding the health-related measures, four studies included physiological monitoring and the remaining three included self-reported psychological measures. Positive soundscapes were associated with faster stress-recovery processes in laboratory experiments, and better self-reported health conditions in large-scale surveys. Due to the limited number of items and differences in measures across studies, no statistical analysis was performed, and a qualitative approach to data synthesis was sought. Results support the claim that, in contrast with looking at noise only as an environmental stressor, sound perception can act as an enhancer of the human experience in the urban realm, from a health-related point of view.

Acoustic Design Criteria in Naturally Ventilated Residential Buildings: New Research Perspectives by Applying the Indoor Soundscape Approach

“…Soundscape definition underpins three main pillars that are the "acoustic environment", "people" and the "context" where the perception occurs. The concept was originally developed from studies conducted at an urban scale and in outdoor spaces, with the aim of shifting the focus from the negative to the positive effects of environmental sounds [47,48]. Standard ISO/TS 12913-2:2018 requires the integration through triangulation of multiple methods (soundwalks, questionnaires, guided interviews, non-participatory observations, and binaural measurements) for a holistic assessment of the acoustic experience, in context [49].…”

“…The literature has already reported numerous criticisms on the effectiveness of decibel-based metrics in fully characterizing perceived sound quality (e.g., pleasantness ratings) [51]. Indeed, reducing noise levels do not always lead straightforwardly to an improved comfort or quality of life, as sounds and even loudness can be desirable in some contexts [47,51,116]. Aspects related to the nature of sounds and to their spectral and temporal composition have been found to significantly affect perceived sound quality [51].…”

“…By going beyond noise annoyance reduction and sound level minimization, a broader picture could be captured on perceptual and health outcomes resulting from the experience of the acoustic environment. Accordingly, the literature has reported that, in addition to health risks reduction, even positive-related health effects may result from acoustic environments being positively perceived by people [47,64,120]. Understanding the potential of a positive acoustic experience to enhance building users´health and well-being requires a perceptual, soundscape perspective to be adopted in order to comprehend what makes an acoustic environment sound "positive".…”

Promoting Healthy and Supportive Acoustic Environments: Going beyond the Quietness

“…A better understanding of contextual factors and aspects related to the interactions between people and places is required to characterize soundscapes holistically, as pointed out by Hermida and colleagues [16] in their case studies in Lisbon and Bogotá. For this purpose, it is certainly useful to review the corpus of literature looking at the positive effects that soundscapes and environmental sounds more generally can have on people's quality of life and well-being [17,18].…”

Enable, Reconnect and Augment: A New ERA of Virtual Nature Research and Application

“…The results from a pilot study by Annerstedt et al [116] showed that virtual nature with sounds was effective in eliciting stress-reducing effects, while the effect was absent in virtual nature without sounds. Research on soundscapes has demonstrated that auditory input can influence both psychological and physiological measures of health and well-being [117][118][119]. Soundscape refers to acoustic environments as perceived by people, in context, and evidence is accumulating to support the proposition that urban soundscapes contribute to the environmental quality of urban areas in the same way that microclimatic data does [120].…”