The restorative environmental sounds perceived by children

Shu, Shan; Ma, Hui

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.10.011

Cited by 35 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In this study, five environmental sounds (i.e., music, birdsong, fountain sound, bell ring, and stream sound) and ambient noise in the environment of classrooms were used to generate the sound stimuli. The five environmental sounds were selected for the following reasons: (1) They were assessed by children as the potential restorative sounds in a prior study [22] and (2) they are coherent with the classroom setting and could be easily added in a school classroom through corresponding soundscape design. Specifically, a typical classical piano music, named “Souvenirs d’ enfance”, was selected as the music stimulus, which was a piece of soft and relaxing music without lyrics.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the test, ambient noise in the classroom was set as 45 dBA according to the upper limit of noise standard in China primary school classrooms, and the S/N of five levels (−5, 0, 5, 10, 15) was used to simulate the sound environments in classrooms. Thirty children aged 8–12 were exposed to the soundscapes, and they were asked to evaluate each soundscape using a perceived restorative soundscape scale for children [22]. Results showed that children reported an S/N of 5 dB to be most restorative.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, in contrast with annoyed ambient noise, which has been widely proven to have adverse effects on the two cognitive abilities in prior studies [36,37], pleasant soundscapes exhibited restorative potentials as perceived by children [22]. Thus, it seems reasonable to expect a positive effect on children’s cognition after exposure to a restorative soundscape.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, based on the four components that are highlighted in ART (fascination, being away, compatibility, and extent), which were important for producing a restorative environment, Payne developed a perceived restorativeness soundscape scale (PRSS) to assess perceptions of a soundscape’s restorative potential [20] and further explored its construct validity [21]. This scale successfully differentiated the restorativeness of soundscapes from different urban parks and was thus used by other researchers [3,22]. In addition, a study involving semistructured interviews found that bird sounds were perceived as welcome distractions that effortlessly removed participants from cognitive fatigue [23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Restorative Effects of Classroom Soundscapes on Children’s Cognitive Performance

Shu

2019

IJERPH

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Previous studies have examined the restorative benefits of soundscapes on adults’ cognitive performance, but it was unclear whether those benefits would be possible for children. In this paper, two experiments applied a before–after design to explore the restorative effects of different soundscapes on children’s sustained attention and short-term memory, respectively, in a simulated classroom situation. In Experiment 1, 46 children aged 8–12 were first mentally fatigued by performing an oral arithmetic task and then were asked to conduct a sustained attention to response test (SART), in order to assess their attention fatigue. After that, a period of 3-min soundscape was presented, and SART was conducted again to examine their attention recovery. In Experiment 2, 45 children participated and the experiment procedure was the same as in Experiment 1, except that a digit span test (DST) was used instead to measure short-term memory. The results showed that music, birdsong, fountain sound, and stream sound facilitated greater recovery than other sounds in reaction time. Participants also showed better performance in short-term memory after exposure to fountain sound and stream sound, followed by music and birdsong. Those results confirmed the actual restorative effects of perceived restorative soundscapes on children’s cognitive performance.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Restorative Effects of Classroom Soundscapes on Children’s Cognitive Performance

Shu

2019

IJERPH

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“…Meanwhile, the weight of the relaxation characteristic was higher than that of other factors, which reflected the urgent need for sound environment with a high sense of relaxation in modern society. The reason may be that Chinese urban residents (including children) are generally feeling pressured and stressed (Shu and Ma, 2018). Thus, preservation of a good sound environment that promotes recovery and relaxation is of great importance.…”

Section: Analysis Of the Characteristics Of Soundscapes Worthy Of Prementioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and evaluation of urban soundscapes worthy of preservation

Jia

Kang

2020

Journal of Environmental Management

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Improvement of the sound environment is essential for improving the overall quality of the urban environment and for reflecting the characteristics of a city. Unfortunately, some soundscapes in cities are gradually being destroyed by the rapid development. Therefore, it would appear that the preservation of soundscapes is as necessary and crucial as noise control in cities. In this paper, two field studies were carried out at two stages to explore the types and characteristics of urban soundscapes that should be preserved, based on the example of Tianjin, China. At stage one, 2504 respondents participated in social surveys to recommend the soundscapes worthy of preservation in the city. At stage two, a group soundscape walk with twenty-three participants was carried out to explore the characteristics of soundscapes worthy of preservation suggested by the respondents at the first stage. The following results were obtained: (1) regarding the attitude towards the urgency of soundscape preservation, 79% of the respondents thought it was urgent or very urgent, with an average score of 4.04 (five-point numeric scale was used and five meant very urgent). (2) The majority of soundscapes worthy of preservation were located in urban parks and historic districts with respective proportions of 66% and 20%. The top three sound source categories of these soundscapes were social/communal sounds (talking, bells, laughter, and sounds from human activities), animal sounds (birdsong and sounds from non-domesticated animals) and water sounds. (3) Relaxation, vibrancy, representativeness, strength, and richness were principal characteristics of the soundscapes worthy of preservation. (4) Based on their characteristics, these soundscapes were classified into five clusters using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). They were clusters of relaxing nature soundscape, vibrant nature soundscape, vibrant human activity soundscape, culture-related soundscape and traditional soundscape. The dominant characteristic of each cluster was driven by its sound mark rather than the dominant sound.

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Restorative effects of urban park soundscapes on children’s psychophysiological stress

Shu

2020

Applied Acoustics

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The restorative environmental sounds perceived by children

Cited by 35 publications

References 41 publications

Restorative Effects of Classroom Soundscapes on Children’s Cognitive Performance

Restorative Effects of Classroom Soundscapes on Children’s Cognitive Performance

Characteristics and evaluation of urban soundscapes worthy of preservation

Restorative effects of urban park soundscapes on children’s psychophysiological stress

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