Exploring the Relationship between Urban Quiet Areas and Perceived Restorative Benefits

Abstract

To help mitigate the adverse health impacts of environmental noise, European cities are recommended to identify urban quiet areas for preservation. Procedures for identifying urban quiet areas vary across cities and between countries, and little is known of the strength of the salutogenic (health-promoting) benefits they may provide. Taking a multi-site approach, this study examines the potential of three sites as urban quiet areas and their associated health benefits, particularly in relation to perceived restorative benefits. Across three cities in the United Kingdom, an urban garden, urban park, and an urban square had sound pressure levels measured. Responses from 151 visitors to these sites evaluated the place as quiet, calm, and tranquil, and assessed their experience of the place in terms of perceived sounds, its benefits, how it made them feel, and perceived restoration. Depending on the criteria used, the sites varied in their suitability as urban quiet areas, although all provided perceived health benefits. Relationships between sound levels (subjective and objective) and perceived restoration were not linear, with the type of sounds heard and other aspects of the place experience believed to affect the relationship. Building on this work, a future experimental approach based on the study sites is planned to manipulate the multiple variables involved. This will provide a clearer understanding of the relationship between urban quiet areas and perceived restorative benefits.

The Influence of Audio-Visual Interactions on Psychological Responses of Young People in Urban Green Areas: A Case Study in Two Parks in China

“…One possible reason may be that they took children’s psychological responses as a research object. In a recent study in UK, Payne and Bruce reported that relationships between sound levels (subjective and objective) and psychological restoration were not linear, which was also different from this study [16]. It may be because the type of sounds heard and other aspects of the place experience affect the relationships.…”

“…In recent years, some studies have assessed the psychological recovery potential of soundscapes [8,13,14,15]. They focused on the relationship between the acoustic environment and psychological responses [16,17] and they identified the sound sources that promoted positive emotions (stress recovery) [13,18]. According to a study by Daniel Shepherd et al, the mean scores of psychological well-being described by the WHO’s short-form quality of life instrument (WHOQOL-BREF) perceived by residents in quiet areas were higher than in noisy areas [19].…”

Promoting Healthy and Supportive Acoustic Environments: Going beyond the Quietness

“…This more generally raises the point about what sound sources one would expect to contribute more to quietness perception, as well as supporting health and well-being. To some extent, the work by Payne and Bruce [8] also claims that the type of sounds heard and other aspects of a site experience are likely to be related to a non-linear relationship between sound levels and perceived restoration of an acoustic environment. Other contextual aspects might indeed play a role, such as audio-visual interactions in environmental perception, as suggested in the work by Zhang et al [9].…”

Historical Cloisters and Courtyards as Quiet Areas

“…To achieve these goals, a great deal of study in the field of environmental acoustics have focused on the characterization and preservation of the soundscapes of these areas [4][5][6], along with an analysis of the factors which can modulate well-being [7].…”