Factors associated with soundscape experiences in urban green spaces: A case study in Rostock, Germany

Abstract

Urban green spaces could play a more prominent role than other types of urban open space in providing high quality soundscapes. The main objective of this study was to examine the relationships between people's visit motivation, along with other social/demographical/behavioral as well as visual landscape factors and soundscape experiences in terms of the perceived occurrences and loudness of individual sounds, the preference for individual sounds, as well as overall soundscape preference in urban green spaces. This was based on a questionnaire survey of 400 users in four urban green spaces in Rostock, Germany. The results showed that street traffic sounds were the least preferred, but in a dominating position either in perceived occurrences or loudness, while bird song and water sound were the most preferred sounds. Among the social/demographical/behavioral factors length of stay was the most associated one with soundscape experiences, especially the perception of street traffic sound and bird song. All the five visit motivations were positively related to overall soundscape preference, with "Enjoy a quiet environment" showing the highest correlation coefficient (0.323). "Enjoy the scenery or atmosphere" showed the most significant relationships with perception of individual sounds, with totally 10 different perception parameters. The perception of street traffic sound, motorcycle noise, bird song and water sounds were more associated with visual landscape preference than other kinds of sound. Besides, overall soundscape preference could be affected by visual landscape preference indirectly through the perceived occurrences and loudness of certain sounds. The results suggested that sound sensibility indicated by perceived occurrences of individual sounds was more associated with the examined factors. These findings could be instructive in the soundscape and landscape planning and designing process of urban green spaces.

Urban soundscape preferences in relation to the function of a place: Case studies in Warsaw

“…Soundscapes dominated by mechanical sounds have lower rates than those with a smaller amount of mechanical sounds and in which natural and human sounds are noticeable or even dominant. This confirms the general preference that people prefer natural and human sounds and reject mechanical sounds, which corresponds to the findings of Guastavino 2006, Liu et al 2017, Ismail 2014, Nilsson 2007, Hong & Jeon 2015, Romanowska 2014, Jennings & Cain 2016 Mean rates of the appropriateness in relation to function are in every case higher than the mean values of the subjective impression. In Świętokrzyska street the difference between the mean subjective value and mean rates for appropriateness, is considerable.…”

Cross-National Comparison of Soundscape in Urban Public Open Spaces between China and Croatia

“…Sound from human activities, such as talking (p < 0.01) and walking (p < 0.05), are more likely to attract attention in Croatian places. The result is consistent with another research [58], which examined the relationship between people's visit motivation and soundscape experiences in terms of the perceived occurrences in Germany. Table 8.…”

Characteristics and evaluation of urban soundscapes worthy of preservation

“…One type focussed on the soundscapes in specific areas, such as urban parks (Liu et al, 2018a;Ou et al, 2017), residential areas (Rey and Barrigon, 2017), commercial streets (Yu et al, 2016) and urban waterfront areas (Puyana et al, 2016). The other investigated particular soundscapes, such as water sounds and birdsongs (Liu et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2018). However, studies on the characteristics from the viewpoint of soundscapes worthy of preservation are still lacking.…”