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Kong PR, Han KT. Psychological and physiological effects of soundscapes: A systematic review of 25 experiments in the English and Chinese literature. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 929:172197. [PMID: 38582113 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172197] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/08/2024]
Abstract
The aim of this systematic review was to conduct a comprehensive and rigorous investigation of both psychological and physiological responses to, and audio-visual interactions with, soundscapes to present an overview of the current status and to provide suggestions for future research. Our literature search focused on empirical and quantitative studies of journal articles and gray literature in English and Chinese. This systematic review excluded literature related to pure music, religious sounds, humanistic sounds, historical sounds, medical research, and differences in materials used. The Joanna Briggs Institute's Checklist for Randomized Controlled Trials was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies. Twenty-five studies were included, involving 1950 participants. The major findings of this systematic review were that: (1) there were significant associations between the psychological and physiological responses; (2) the audio-visual interaction affected the psychological and physiological responses; and (3) because of the high risk of bias of the included studies, interpretation of their findings should be cautious. Nevertheless, given that this systematic review has a higher level of evidence than a single study and the synthesized evidence identified in this review is aligned with the results of other studies, the studies reviewed herein together provide consistent evidence. Replications are important in empirical research to build trustworthy results. Future research should focus on the psychological responses of pleasantness, preference, tranquility, the eight semantic dimensions (ISO 12913-2:2018), and the 11 pairs of adjectives describing the soundscape (Ba et al., 2023) and the physiological responses of heart rate variability and salivary, and follow the CONSORT guidelines to improve the research quality. An integration of sensory modalities, environmental factors, contextual indicators, temporal data, demographic variables, socio-cultural factors, and psychological and physiological responses may provide deeper insights into how people experience and understand the acoustic environment in context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pei-Rou Kong
- Department of Landscape Architecture, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, No.57, Sec. 2, Zhongshan Rd., Taiping Dist., Taichung 41170, Taiwan.
| | - Ke-Tsung Han
- Department of Landscape Architecture, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, No.57, Sec. 2, Zhongshan Rd., Taiping Dist., Taichung 41170, Taiwan.
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Ferguson LA, Taff BD, Blanford JI, Mennitt DJ, Mowen AJ, Levenhagen M, White C, Monz CA, Francis CD, Barber JR, Newman P. Understanding park visitors' soundscape perception using subjective and objective measurement. PeerJ 2024; 12:e16592. [PMID: 38313034 PMCID: PMC10838067 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16592] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Environmental noise knows no boundaries, affecting even protected areas. Noise pollution, originating from both external and internal sources, imposes costs on these areas. It is associated with adverse health effects, while natural sounds contribute to cognitive and emotional improvements as ecosystem services. When it comes to parks, individual visitors hold unique perceptions of soundscapes, which can be shaped by various factors such as their motivations for visiting, personal norms, attitudes towards specific sounds, and expectations. In this study, we utilized linear models and geospatial data to evaluate how visitors' personal norms and attitudes, the park's acoustic environment, visitor counts, and the acoustic environment of visitors' neighborhoods influenced their perception of soundscapes at Muir Woods National Monument. Our findings indicate that visitors' subjective experiences had a greater impact on their perception of the park's soundscape compared to purely acoustic factors like sound level of the park itself. Specifically, we found that motivations to hear natural sounds, interference caused by noise, sensitivity to noise, and the sound levels of visitors' home neighborhoods influenced visitors' perception of the park's soundscape. Understanding how personal factors shape visitors' soundscape perception can assist urban and non-urban park planners in effectively managing visitor experiences and expectations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A. Ferguson
- Recreation Management and Policy Department, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States of America
| | - B. Derrick Taff
- Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, Pennsylvania State University, PA, United States of America
| | - Justine I. Blanford
- Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands
| | - Daniel J. Mennitt
- Mechanical Engineering, Exponent, Inc., Denver, CO, United States of America
| | - Andrew J. Mowen
- Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, Pennsylvania State University, PA, United States of America
| | - Mitchell Levenhagen
- Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, United States of America
- Ramboll Americas Engineering Solutions, Inc., Milwaukee, WI, United States of America
| | - Crow White
- Biological Sciences Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, United States of America
| | - Christopher A. Monz
- Department of Environment and Society, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States of America
| | - Clinton D. Francis
- Biological Sciences Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA, United States of America
| | - Jesse R. Barber
- Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID, United States of America
| | - Peter Newman
- Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management, Pennsylvania State University, PA, United States of America
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Human-nature connection and soundscape perception: Insights from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. J Nat Conserv 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jnc.2021.126110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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Thinking Outside the Park: Connecting Visitors’ Sound Affect in a Nature-Based Tourism Setting with Perceptions of Their Urban Home and Work Soundscapes. SUSTAINABILITY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/su13126572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This study examined the potential for Perceived Affective Quality (PAQ; pleasantness, eventfulness, familiarity) soundscape measures developed within urban settings to enrich current soundscape management approaches within protected areas (PAs). Drawing on the premise that people bring experiences from other life contexts into PA settings and PA visitors are increasingly coming from urban areas, research integrated urban visitors’ soundscape perceptions of their home and work acoustic environments with their perceptions of acoustic environments in PAs. Two-phased survey research (n = 333) separated visitors into urban density groups and compared PAQ variables across home, work, and PA contexts. Significant differences resulted, both in ratings of the three acoustic contexts (PA, home, work) for all three PAQ components and between urban density groups. The importance of pleasantness was confirmed across all contexts; however, alone, this dimension lacked sufficient contrast to interpret the complexity of soundscape perceptions, especially considering diverse Healthy Parks, Healthy People (HPHP) visitor experience scenarios and goals. Thus, managers should consider (1) additional PAQ variables that can provide more useful and contrasting information; (2) incorporating methods that integrate PAQ measures across visitors’ different acoustic contexts, and (3) including urban density measures within HPHP research.
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Uebel K, Marselle M, Dean AJ, Rhodes JR, Bonn A. Urban green space soundscapes and their perceived restorativeness. PEOPLE AND NATURE 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Konrad Uebel
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of Queensland St. Lucia QLD Australia
- Department Ecosystem Services Helmholtz‐Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ Leipzig Germany
| | - Melissa Marselle
- Department Ecosystem Services Helmholtz‐Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ Leipzig Germany
- German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Leipzig Germany
- School of Psychology University of Surrey Guildford UK
| | - Angela J. Dean
- Institute for Future Environments Queensland University of Technology Brisbane QLD Australia
- School of Psychology The University of Queensland St. Lucia QLD Australia
| | - Jonathan R. Rhodes
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of Queensland St. Lucia QLD Australia
| | - Aletta Bonn
- Department Ecosystem Services Helmholtz‐Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ Leipzig Germany
- German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Leipzig Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity Friedrich Schiller University Jena Jena Germany
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Franěk M, Režný L, Šefara D, Cabal J. Effect of birdsongs and traffic noise on pedestrian walking speed during different seasons. PeerJ 2019; 7:e7711. [PMID: 31592148 PMCID: PMC6777478 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7711] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 08/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies have explored the effects of auditory and visual stimuli on the perception of an environment. However, there is a lack of investigations examining direct behavioral responses to noise in specific environments. In this study, a behavioral variable, walking speed, was analyzed, as a response to the sounds and visual features of a specific environment. The study examined the effects of birdsongs compared to traffic noise on walking speed in a real outdoor urban environment. It was supposed that the interaction of audition and vision in the perception of an environment may also be shaped by the perceived congruence of the visual and auditory features of the environment. The participants (N = 87 and N = 65), young university students, walked along a 1.8-km urban route. They listened to a soundtrack of crowded city noise or birdsongs, or they walked in the real outdoor environment without listening to any acoustic stimuli. To investigate the effect of the congruence between acoustic and visual stimuli, the experiment was conducted in two different seasons (fall and spring). The results did not show significant differences between the crowded city noise condition and the real outdoor condition. Listening to the soundtrack with birdsongs decreased walking speed, but this effect was significant only in the experiment conducted in spring. These findings can be explained in terms of the congruence between the sounds and the visual environment. The findings raise questions regarding the restorative function of urban greenery during different seasons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marek Franěk
- Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
| | - Lukáš Režný
- Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
| | - Denis Šefara
- Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
| | - Jiří Cabal
- Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic
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The Psychophysiological Implications of Soundscape: A Systematic Review of Empirical Literature and a Research Agenda. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2019; 16:ijerph16193533. [PMID: 31546577 PMCID: PMC6801404 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16193533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Revised: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 09/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The soundscape is defined by the International Standard Organization (ISO) 12913-1 as the human’s perception of the acoustic environment, in context, accompanying physiological and psychological responses. Previous research is synthesized with studies designed to investigate soundscape at the ‘unconscious’ level in an effort to more specifically conceptualize biomarkers of the soundscape. This review aims firstly, to investigate the consistency of methodologies applied for the investigation of physiological aspects of soundscape; secondly, to underline the feasibility of physiological markers as biomarkers of soundscape; and finally, to explore the association between the physiological responses and the well-founded psychological components of the soundscape which are continually advancing. For this review, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English with combinations of the keywords ‘soundscape’, ‘environmental noise/sound’, ‘physiology/physiological’, ‘psychology/psychological’, and ‘perceptual attributes/affective/subjective assessment/appraisals’. Previous research suggests that Electrocardiography (ECG) and Vectorcardiography (VCG) biometrics quantifying Heart Rate (HR), stimulus-locked experimental design, and passive listening with homogeneous populations are predominantly applied to characterize the psychophysiology underlying the soundscape. Pleasantness and arousal are the most frequent psychological descriptors for soundscape subjective appraisals. Likewise, acoustic environments are reported to inconsistently evoke physiological responses with great variability among studies. The link between the perceptual attributes and physiological responses of soundscape vary within and among existing literature. While a few studies detected a link between physiological manifestations of soundscape and the perceptual attributes, the others failed to validate this link. Additionally, the majority of the study findings were limited to one or two physiological responses.
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