Impact of the Classic Chinese Garden Soundscape With Focus on Physiological and Psychological Effects, Tested Through Eye-Tracking, and Subjective Evaluation

Abstract

Soundscape has been valued and practiced in classical Chinese garden designs. Some authentic patterns were even mentioned and used in gardening books hundreds of years ago. Though these patterns are well-known, how they work in a classic Chinese garden is still unclear. In this study, we chose one of the most famous soundscapes called Tingyuxuan (Listening to the Sound of Rain Hall) in Zhuozhengyuan (Humble Administrator’s Garden), Suzhou as the object. A video of the Tingyuxuan was captured on a rainy day, along with its sound. Twenty-four participants were asked to view this video twice (once with audio, once muted, in a random order). Eye-movement data and the subjective evaluation of participants were collected. The results showed that the participants’ visual attention is influenced by the sound of rain and helps them identify and observe the main element of the soundscape. Furthermore, participants experienced more positive feelings when viewing the video with the audio on.

Effects of Reflecting Water on Viewers’ Visual Perception and Subjective Evaluation: A Case Study in Classic Chinese Garden

“…A previous study indicated that saccadic movements take 20-50 ms, while xations last for approximately 200 ms when reading text and longer when looking at images (19). Moreover, previous studies have focused on the relationship between visual attention to scenery and de ned xations as reaching approximately 200 ms (15)(16)(17)20). Thus, the eye xation duration was identi ed as being of at least 200 ms.…”

“…Simultaneously, the examiner asked participants to open their eyes and view the scene freely. According to previous studies, Eye movements were recorded for 60s (15,16,20,35). The participants were asked to close their eyes again.…”

“…To assess the overall subjective feelings associated with the picture (with a pond vs. with a pavement), the participants were asked to ll out a questionnaire using the semantic differential (SD) method (31,32). Based on previous studies (15,(33)(34)(35), 17 pairs of adjectives (emotional: gentle-stiff, pleasing-annoying, relaxed-tense, bright-dark, clear-obscure, warm-cold, rhythmic-arrhythmic, harmonious-discordant, calming-upsetting, three-dimensional-two-dimensional, varietymonotonous, imaginative-unimaginative, large-small, broad-narrow, open-closed, secure-insecure, and simple-complex) were used in the questionnaire. For each pair of adjectives, the participants evaluated the picture on a scale ranging from − 2 to 2.…”

“…Thus, advanced eye-tracking technology provides a new way to verify whether experience-based knowledge is correct and further explore its mechanism. A previous study using eye-tracking technology combined with subjective evaluation identi ed that visitors' visual attention was in uenced by the sound of rain, which helped them identify and observe the main elements of scenery, revealing the mechanism of traditional multisensory stimuli techniques in classic Chinese gardens (15). Other studies have identi ed that different styles of garden design cause different visual attention of viewers (16) and noted that visual attention can be in uenced by different viewing contexts (17).…”

Effects of Sound Source Landscape in Urban Forest Park on Alleviating Mental Stress of Visitors: Evidence from Huolu Mountain Forest Park, Guangzhou

“…Wang studied the perception of soundscapes in national parks and their impact on visual aesthetics [15]. Sun, Minkai and Marafa [16,17] did pioneering work in the field of soundscape research in classical Chinese gardens, exploring the creation of soundscapes within classical Chinese gardens from the perspective of sound sources. Li [18] built a sound landscape assessment model for urban public open spaces.…”