Soundscape: An Approach to Rely on Human Perception and Expertise in the Post-Modern Community Noise Era

Schulte‐Fortkamp, Brigitte; Brooks, Bennett M.; Bray, Wade

doi:10.1121/1.2961148

Cited by 33 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Community noise control often suggests that reducing noise levels is beneficial, although it has been shown that sound level is not necessarily the main factor affecting soundscape perception [12,13]. For example, Kang suggests acoustic comfort evaluation where types of sound sources, users of a space, and social factors play a role in perception [14] Combining these factors could form a "context", a concept that Botteldooren suggests is crucial in a cognitive approach to soundscapes [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores how expectations of a place and its soundscape can affect our perception of that soundscape. Previous soundscape research has included expectation as one possible element of the context in which soundscape evaluation takes place.This work aimed to focus on expectation and unpack it to improve understanding of its different components and how it works. A combination of soundwalks, interviews, focus groups and an interactive soundscape simulation were used in the investigation.A linked series of locations in Manchester and London were studied. It was found that participants' perceptions of a soundscape, both real and simulated, were affected by expectation in several different ways. Participants expected certain types of sound to be present in a particular space. Participants distinguished between whether a sound was expected and whether it sounded pleasant. It was also possible to distinguish between the expectation of particular sound sources and the expectation of the soundscape as a whole. The latter was found to be driven significantly by prior experience of similar spaces and also by perceived loudness. Participants also had expectations about the type of activity they could undertake in a particular soundscape, the behaviour of other people as expressed in the soundscape, and the degree of control they might have over their own exposure to the sound. These findings suggest that expectations of a soundscape are based on prior experience in a way which is consistent with Truax's notion of soundscape competence. The results have been used to produce a new model for soundscape expectation which is expressed as a flowchart.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes

2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, from the soundscapes field, there is growing understanding and acceptance that outdoor sound quality (quality in terms of human appreciation or preference) cannot be determined by physical measurement 22,23 . Matters such as context, the information in the sound, and individual attitudes and expectations, all play an important role in judgments of outdoor sound quality, either more important than level of sound, or even to the exclusion of level.…”

Section: Measurement In Noise Management and In Soundscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soundscapes and environmental noise management

Brown¹

2010

Noise Control Eng. J.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the current expansion of interest in soundscapes, the roles and application of the concept, vis-à-vis that of environmental noise management, have not been adequately articulated. Soundscapes and environmental noise management are complementary, not competing, approaches with respect to the study and management of the outdoor acoustic environment. Their complementarity is best demonstrated by focusing on fundamental distinctions between them. This paper introduces the notion of the acoustic environment as a resource to be managed for different beneficial uses and for diversity, and with a focus on sounds of human preference. It provides the opportunity for a more nuanced understanding of human response to the acoustic environment. By contrast, environmental noise management focuses on sound as a waste, and on reducing the extent and intensity of its adverse effects on people. Soundscape design, planning and management are a useful augmentation to environmental noise management approaches, potentially expanding the scope of application of the tools of acoustic specialists. The two fields require quite different approaches to measurement. © 2010 Institute of Noise Control Engineering.

show abstract

“…Soundscape evaluations have been intensively studied, showing they are influenced by physical, physiological, psychological, sociological, and other factors (Botteldooren and Verkeyn, 2002;Raimbault and Dubois, 2005;Genuit and Fiebig, 2006;Kang, 2006;Schulte-Fortkamp and Fiebig, 2006;Schulte-Fortkamp et al, 2007). The meaning of sound as well as expectation, memory, and state of mind influences soundscape evaluation (Berglund et al, 1994;Yang and Kang, 2005a,b;Yu and Kang, 2008;Lam et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Psychoacoustical evaluation of natural and urban sounds in soundscapes

Yang

Kang²

2013

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Among various sounds in the environment, natural sounds, such as water sounds and birdsongs, have proven to be highly preferred by humans, but the reasons for these preferences have not been thoroughly researched. This paper explores differences between various natural and urban environmental sounds from the viewpoint of objective measures, especially psychoacoustical parameters. The sound samples used in this study include the recordings of single sound source categories of water, wind, birdsongs, and urban sounds including street music, mechanical sounds, and traffic noise. The samples are analyzed with a number of existing psychoacoustical parameter algorithmic models. Based on hierarchical cluster and principal components analyses of the calculated results, a series of differences has been shown among different sound types in terms of key psychoacoustical parameters. While different sound categories cannot be identified using any single acoustical and psychoacoustical parameter, identification can be made with a group of parameters, as analyzed with artificial neural networks and discriminant functions in this paper. For artificial neural networks, correlations between network predictions and targets using the average and standard deviation data of psychoacoustical parameters as inputs are above 0.95 for the three natural sound categories and above 0.90 for the urban sound category. For sound identification/classification, key parameters are fluctuation strength, loudness, and sharpness.

show abstract

Soundscape: An Approach to Rely on Human Perception and Expertise in the Post-Modern Community Noise Era

Cited by 33 publications

References 0 publications

The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes

The effects of expectation on the perception of soundscapes

Soundscapes and environmental noise management

Psychoacoustical evaluation of natural and urban sounds in soundscapes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About