Effects of contexts in urban residential areas on the pleasantness and appropriateness of natural sounds

Abstract

Before introducing natural sounds to potentially improve the soundscape quality, it is important to understand how key contextual factors (i.e. expected activities and audiovisual congruency) affect the soundscape in a given location. In this study, the perception of eight natural sounds (i.e. 4 birdsongs, 4 water sounds) at five urban recreational areas under the constant influence of road traffic was explored subjectively under three laboratory settings: visual-only, audio-only, and audio-visual. Firstly, expected sociorecreational activities of each location were determined in the visual -only setting.Subsequently, participants assessed the pleasantness and appropriateness of the soundscape at each site, for each of the eight natural sounds augmented to the same road traffic noise, in both audio-only and audio-visual settings. Interestingly, it was found that the expected activities in each location did not significantly affect natural sound perception, whereas audio-visual congruency of the locations significantly affected the pleasantness and appropriateness of the natural sounds. Particularly, the pleasantness and appropriateness decreased for water sounds when water features were not visually present.In contrast, perception with birdsongs was unaffected by their visibility likely due to the presence of vegetation. Hence, audio-visual coherence is central to the perception of natural sounds in outdoor spaces.

Acoustic Needs of Older People in the Outdoor Environment of Residential Communities: A Case Study in China

“…Unlike Hong et al's research, outdoor activities have a positive influence on older people's preferences for natural sounds. 15 Similar to the results from Mu et al's study, 17 most people also prefer a quiet outdoor environment, and their acoustic comfort is influenced by sound preferences. Additionally, the type of activity also affected older people's needs in evaluating outdoor soundscapes.…”

“…14 They also studied the impact of outdoor activities on the acoustic perception of 50 participants and found that outdoor activities (relaxation, outdoor entertainment, and social gathering) had no influence on enhancing satisfaction obtained from natural sounds. 15 However, most studies on the soundscape of older people focus on the indoor environment. Wang and Kang investigated the soundscape in nursing homes and found that rather than reducing the sound of music or of other activities, such as table tennis, older people preferred reducing the sound of chatter.…”

Attitudes towards outdoor and neighbour noise during the COVID-19 lockdown: A case study in London

“…Numerous studies ( Kang, 2006 ; Nilsson & Berglund, 2006 ; Park, Lee, Jung, & Swenson, 2020 ) have demonstrated that sound has an important role in the perception of built environments. In particular, natural sounds were a significant factor in enhancing the acoustic comfort and sustainability of the environments ( Hong et al, 2020 ; Hong, Wang, Liu, & Lan, 2019 ; Truax, 2019 ). Thus, it is necessary to examine people’s reactions to noises during the lockdown.…”

Assessing the perceived indoor acoustic environment quality across building occupants in a tertiary-care public hospital in Singapore

“…In healthcare environments, Mackrill et al proposed an emotional-cognitive framework for a qualitative perceptual assessment of hospital 'soundscapes' to help understand perceptual effects beyond reduced sound levels [21][22][23][24][25]. It was acknowledged that the framework was developed in the absence of context, a critical factor in one's perception of the complex acoustical environment [26,27].…”