Soundwalk path affecting soundscape assessment in urban parks

Abstract

IntroductionPrevious soundscape studies focused on sound perception and acoustic comfort in sampled sites and ignored the characteristics of the experiential process along the paths. Therefore, the effects of soundwalk paths on soundscape assessment should be explored.MethodsIn this study, a typical urban park was selected as a case study. The differences, characteristics, and effects of soundwalk paths on the soundscapes were explored, based on a soundwalk survey and laboratory study.ResultsThe results are as follows: first, in the soundwalk, different soundwalk paths in the urban park had significant effects on the perceived extent of individual sound and soundscape assessment. Second, the soundscape assessment was consistent with the peak-end rule. In the laboratory experiments, the peak assessment of soundscape appeared at the end location of the soundwalk paths, it was critical to the overall soundscape assessment. Furthermore, in the soundwalk, the overall perceived extent of individual sound was strongly affected by the perceived extent of dominant sounds at the end location of the soundwalk paths. Third, in the soundwalk, the sound loudness contrast path (noise-quiet/quiet-noise) and sound source contrast path (natural-artificial sound/artificial-natural sound) were compared. In the noise-quiet path, the assessment of acoustic comfort was higher than that in the quiet-noise path, and the assessment of subjective loudness was lower than that in the quiet-noise path (p < 0.01). The subjective loudness of the artificial-natural sound path was lower than that in the natural-artificial sound path (p < 0.05).DiscussionThus, the design of the soundwalk paths was expected to enhance visitors’ soundscape assessment of urban parks.

Beyond Park Boundaries: Exploring The Effect of Surrounding Land Use on Sound Levels of ParksBeyond Park Boundaries: Exploring The Effect of Surrounding Land Use on Sound Levels of Parks

“…Noises in parks may be influenced also by the design of the park itself, such as placement of sound barriers and natural sound sources such as water features and vegetation (Di et al, 2021;Jaszczak et al, 2021;Sun et al, 2022). In terms of aural-visual interactions, numerous studies have suggested a close relationship between soundscape and landscape perception (Pheasant et al, 2010;Vijay et al, 2018).…”

“…To date, few studies have examined how sound levels within an urban park vary according to its surrounding land uses and landscape. Studies on the influence of land use on sound levels have mainly focused on parks surrounded by residential land uses (Sun et al, 2022;Yuan et al, 2019). However, this study aims to focus on the impact of different types of land use such as commercial, institutional, and other public facilities on parks by prioritizing urban parks instead of neighborhood parks.…”

“…This study employed measurements of sound levels in the parks based on objective acoustic environment by equivalent continuous sound pressure level (Shao et al, 2022). Like many other studies on acoustic environment in parks (Di et al, 2021;Evensen et al, 2016;Sudarsono et al, 2016;Sun et al, 2022), the acoustic measurements were measured based on the on-site soundwalk method where sound level measurements were taken along the park routes. Different observation sites were sampled due to the different sizes of these urban parks, with 20 points in KLCC Park, 27 points in Bukit Jalil Recreational Park, 24 points in Taman Tasik Permaisuri and 34 points in Putrajaya Botanical Garden, respectively (Figure 1).…”