Effect of soundscape dimensions on acoustic comfort in urban open public spaces

Abstract

Soundscapes in public squares play important roles in urban open spaces. This study aimed to discover the effect of four soundscape dimensions, namely relaxation, communication, spatiality and dynamics, on acoustic comfort in urban open public spaces. A typical city square in China was selected as a case site. Sound environment measurements and questionnaire surveys were carried out for 8 survey positions. The results showed that the perceived dominance of sound sources had a significant effect on relaxation, communication, spatiality and dynamics. Relaxation was greater when the natural sound was perceived dominantly, while it was lower when mechanical sounds or anthropogenic sounds were perceived dominantly. Acoustic comfort had a significant correlation with the soundscape dimensions and LAeq, with spearman's correlation coefficients of 0.495 (relaxation), 0.210 (sound pressure level) and 0.288 (spatiality). In terms of the differences in perceived sound types, acoustic comfort was positively correlated with relaxation when natural sound or anthropogenic sound was perceived dominantly. As spatiality increased, acoustic comfort first decreased and later increased when relaxation was higher, while there were positive correlations between acoustic comfort and relaxation under the other situations. Moreover, when spatiality or communication was higher, there were significant correlations between acoustic comfort and dynamics. According to these results, acoustic comfort can be increased as soundscape dimensions change in an urban open public space.

Análise Acústica De Praças Públicas Na Cidade De Juiz De Fora

“…O diagnóstico de ruídos e seus impactos nos usuários são temas de diversas pesquisas que abordam os espaços livres públicos. Zhang et al (2018) estudaram uma praça na China com o intuito de descobrir o efeito de quatro dimensões (relaxamento, comunicação, espacialidade e dinâmica) da paisagem sonora nos usuários. Os autores perceberam que a dominância das fontes naturais daquele local resultou em um efeito significativo nas quatro dimensões, sendo que o relaxamento dos usuários acontecia de forma mais evidente quando ouviam, predominantemente, sons naturais do ambiente do que sons mecânicos, como trânsito.…”

Influence of Contextual Factors on Soundscape in Urban Open Spaces

“…[60] and has been recognized by ISO [61]. Although there is currently much debate in progress about the best methods to gather information on sound perception by the public, a questionnaire survey is still a frequently used approach to investigate acoustic comfort [3,15,62,63]. In addition, before the formal investigation, the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were tested.…”

“…The context of urban open spaces, especially the acoustic environment, has played an indispensable role in the experience of users of those spaces since residents and tourists pay more attention to acoustic perception than visual satisfaction [1]. With the spread of urbanization, urban open spaces will be increasingly multifunctional and integrated, and crowds will be exposed to noise because of complex acoustic contexts [2,3]. Many previous studies focused on how to prevent and control noise, using tools such as predictive models, noise maps and noise barriers [4][5][6][7][8], while the quality of the sound environment had not been improved effectively.…”

La influencia del paisaje sonoro en la calidad del entorno urbano. Un estudio en la ciudad de Popayán (Colombia)

“…Se han dedicado diversas investigaciones sobre paisaje sonoro a la interacción entre el conjunto de señales acústicas de la ciudad y sus habitantes (Liu y Kang, 2016;Gill et al, 2017;Hermida y Pavón, 2019). Así, el paisaje sonoro no solo se basa en la evaluación física del sonido sino también la de su factor perceptual (Davies et al, 2013;Bruce y Davies, 2014;Kang et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2018). Gozalo et al (2015: 2) afirman que «el enfoque perceptual tiene como objetivo identificar y describir las bases de los procesos psicológicos que subyacen a la evaluación del sonido por parte del ser humano».…”