Restorative Qualities of and Preference for Natural and Urban Soundscapes

Abstract

Psychological restoration in urban agglomerations has become a growing challenge. Although scientific proof of the significance of nature is irrefutable, an increase in built-up areas has led to a decrease in urban greenery. Thus, a growing need for restorativeness in urban surroundings has emerged. To investigate whether positively evaluated sonic environments, represented by natural and urban sounds, have comparable restorative qualities we conducted two studies. The aim of the first (Study 1) was to explore the restorative qualities of positively assessed natural and urban sounds. Participants (N = 88) were asked to listen and to rate 22 recordings (each 1 min long) either from natural or urban environments. In the second (Study 2) we investigated whether positively evaluated sonic environments (natural and urban), demand for restoration (feeling relaxed or fatigued) and company (being alone or with a friend) affect the restorative qualities of natural and urban soundscapes. After reading assigned scenarios (feeling relaxed or fatigued; being alone or with a friend), participants (N = 120) were asked to imagine a walk in presented sonic environments and to complete forms (one for each sonic environment) concerning the restorative qualities of given soundscapes (natural and urban). Top five recordings of natural and urban sonic environments were selected from Study 1 and combined into a 154-s soundtrack, to provide a background for the imagined walks in both settings. Our findings confirmed that natural sounds are perceived more favorably than urban recordings. Even when only the most positively assessed soundscapes were compared, nature was still perceived as being more restorative than urban areas. Company of a friend was found to be more beneficial in the urban surroundings, particularly when there was no need for restoration.

Growing Resilience through Interaction with Nature: Can Group Walks in Nature Buffer the Effects of Stressful Life Events on Mental Health?

“…In other words, walking and talking with others while out in nature could mean that one does not have the opportunity to regain the capacity to direct attention and to engage in reflection—psychological experiences which may facilitate resilience. Indeed, previous research has found that the restorative effects of natural environments are diminished when one is with other people [150,151,152], and that being with others in the natural environment negatively influences the likelihood of reflection [148].…”

Ecosystem services enhanced through soundscape management link people and wildlife

“…Conversely to anthropogenic noise, natural sounds are shown to facilitate stress recovery (Aletta et al, 2018;Alvarsson et al, 2010), improve cognitive performance (Abbott et al, 2016), heighten emotional affect (Benfield et al, 2014) and have other restorative effects in people (Krzywicka & Byrka, 2017). These cognitive and emotional benefits derived from interactions with nature are important psychological ecosystem services provided by biodiversity (Bratman et al, 2012).…”

Peer Review #2 of "Effect of birdsongs and traffic noise on pedestrian walking speed during different seasons (v0.1)"

“…Van Renterghem (2019) summarized potential explanations for these effects. First, it was shown that nature sounds are preferred over anthropogenic ones, namely over vehicle and construction sounds (Hong and Jeon, 2013;Krzywicka and Byrka, 2017;Medvedev, Shepherd, and Hautus, 2015;Ratcliffe, Gatersleben, and Sowden, 2016;Yang and Kang, 2005). Several studies documented that after inducing psychological stress, physiological recovery of sympathetic activation is faster during exposure to pleasant nature sounds than to sound perceived as less pleasant (Alvarsson, Wiens, and Nilsson, 2010;Annerstedt et al, 2013;Medvedev, Shepherd, and Hautus, 2015).…”