The effects of spatial separations between water sound and traffic noise sources on soundscape assessment

Abstract

Many studies have investigated the effects of water sound on soundscape with an assumption that target noise coincides with the masker (co-location), while no attention has been paid to spatial separations between target noise and water sound sources. This study aims to explore the effects of spatial separations between target noise and water sound on perceived loudness of target noise (PLN) and overall soundscape quality (OSQ) through laboratory experiments. Traffic noise (target) and a water sound (masker) were recorded as acoustic stimuli and a spherical panoramic video recording of a water fountain was also used as visual stimuli. The audiovisual stimuli were reproduced through a virtual reality head-mounted display and a multichannel ambisonic loudspeaker setup. The traffic noise and water sound were played simultaneously at various azimuthal separations and were combined with a panoramic recording of a water fountain as visual stimulus. Participants assessed the audiovisual stimuli in terms of PLN and OSQ. The effect of the spatial separation between the traffic noise and water sound was significant in both PLN and OSQ. Specifically, the PLN increase at 135° separation was equivalent to an estimated target noise level increment of ~1-2 dB. Similarly, the OSQ decrease at 135° and 180° separation was equivalent to an estimated target noise level increase of ~2-5 dB. Since the typical field of view of users in space is less than 135°, the results suggest that placing water features within a user's field of view could achieve better soundscape.

Using Virtual Soundwalk Approach for Assessing Sound Art Soundscape Interventions in Public Spaces

“…Although the researchers observed significantly more natural sounds at the point B2, the prominent sound of the rough river Mur probably contributed to the impression of noise and the participants most likely attributed it to traffic, despite of different localization (traffic in front, the sound of the rough river behind and below). This speaks against the use of FOA recordings in laboratory to assess water-based soundscape interventions distant from the listener, similar to findings by Axelsson et al [83] and opposed to the findings by Hong et al [84]. However, further research is needed on this as water features can vary greatly [51].…”

Noise as a Factor of Green Areas Soundscape Creation

“…Introducing natural sounds into the sound landscape (e.g., water noise, birdsong) to mask urban sounds can significantly improve their acoustic comfort. This approach should be an essential strategy for designing green areas in urban areas to improve the well-being of those residing there [60][61][62][63]. Also, the authors [64,65] indicate that landscape architects should, in their design work, take into account such aspects as the acoustic properties of materials, the possibility of masking, or introducing elements of small architecture with the functions of "white noise."…”

Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality

“…To represent real-life situations and to increase the ecological validity of laboratory studies, virtual reality (VR) technologies have also been increasingly adopted in soundscape studies to create an immersive audio-visual experience (Echevarria Sanchez et al, 2017;Hong et al, 2020Hong et al, , 2019Maffei et al, 2015;Puyana-Romero et al, 2017). Hence, future studies on the augmentation of urban noises with natural sounds should be conducted using VR systems with spatial audio to provide immersive and realistic experiences.…”