Inducing physiological stress recovery with sounds of nature in a virtual reality forest — Results from a pilot study

Annerstedt, Matilda; Jönsson, Peter; Wallergård, Mattias; Johansson, Gerd; Karlson, Björn; Grahn, Patrik; Hansen, Åse Marie; Währborg, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.05.023

Cited by 486 publications

(419 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…These findings indicate physiological stress recovery and restoration effects by natural sounds through balancing the autonomous nervous system (Annerstedt, et al, 2013). The sustainability and repeatability of the observed effects is less clear.…”

Section: How Are Soundscapes Influencing Health and Quality Of Life?mentioning

confidence: 84%

Ten questions on the soundscapes of the built environment

Kang

Aletta

Gjestland

et al. 2016

Building and Environment

337

216

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Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) eprints@whiterose.ac.uk https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version -refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher's website. TakedownIf you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. Abstract: Soundscape research represents a paradigm shift from noise control policies towards a new multidisciplinary approach as it involves not only physical measurements but also the cooperation of humanity and social sciences to account for the diversity of soundscapes across countries and cultures, with more focus on how people actually experience the acoustic environments; and it considers environmental sounds as a 'resource' rather than a 'waste'. The ten questions presented in this paper range from the very basic definitions underlying the emerging soundscape 'science', to more applied topics about how to use soundscape as a design approach for the planning and management of the built environments. Although significant research activity has been conducted so far, there is still a need to systematically provide the underpinning science and practical guidance in soundscaping. Thus, the last question aims to identify the most crucial gaps in soundscape research and set the agenda for future advancements in the field.

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Section: How Are Soundscapes Influencing Health and Quality Of Life?mentioning

confidence: 84%

Ten questions on the soundscapes of the built environment

Kang

Aletta

Gjestland

et al. 2016

Building and Environment

337

216

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In fact, birdsong influenced the visual perception of urban sites in an experiment with young urban people (Hedblom et al 2014). In another experimental study, Annerstedt et al (2013) suggested that there is an enhanced stress recovery through sounds of nature, by comparing recovery in a virtual nature environment with and without sounds of nature. Their findings demonstrate a potential mechanistic link between nature, the sounds of nature, and stress recovery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitude on perception of urban green space

et al. 2016

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Green space in cities contributes to the quality of life for city dwellers, e.g., by increasing the opportunity for recreation. However, perception of urban green space is influenced by multiple factors. We investigated effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitudes on visual and auditory perceptions of urban green space. Field measurements of biodiversity were conducted in six sites across an urban gradient in Gothenburg, Sweden, and three categories of biodiversity-high, medium, low-were established. Households were sent a survey on aesthetic perception of urban green space, sound perception and the importance of trees and plants for the perception of bird species. Each respondent focused on the site that was located nearby. The environment-related attitudes comprised BNature-oriented^and BUrban-oriented^persons and were based on participants' own attitude estimations. It was shown that participants' Bsubjective^aesthetic and sound-related perception of urban greenery were in line with the Bobjectively^measured subdivisions of high, medium and low biodiversity. So also were their estimations of the importance of trees and plants for perception of bird species in urban greenery, although differing only between high and medium/ low biodiversity conditions. Persons rating themselves as highly nature-oriented were shown to give higher scores to urban green space aesthetics and to value greenery-related sounds higher, and to attach greater importance to trees and plants in their perception of bird species in urban greenery, than less nature-oriented persons. Highly urban-oriented persons compared to less urban-oriented persons did the same, but only regarding urban greenery-related aesthetics and sounds of nature. We conclude that environment-related attitudes influence perceptions of green space. Moreover, our findings support the idea that biodiversity per se also influences perceptions; people value green space significantly more with high than with low measured biodiversity. Urban planning needs to provide city inhabitants with green spaces that are species-rich, lush, varied and rich with natural sounds.

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“…Additionally, it would be worthwhile to explore whether there are sex differences in the stress response brought about by the TSST-VR, as traditional TSST studies have shown that this task results in larger increases of salivary cortisol in men than in women (Foley & Kirschbaum, 2010;Kirschbaum et al, 1993;Williams, Hagerly, & Brooks, 2004). Annerstedt et al (2013) carried out a pilot study in which a VR environment was used with two distinct objectives; first, producing physiologic stress by means of the TSST-VR, and, secondly, comparing physiologic recovery in different virtual environments after inducing the stress response. Their results showed that the TSST-VR activates the HPA axis and that recovery from the induced stress response varied as a function of the type of virtual environment to which participants were exposed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A virtual reality approach to the Trier Social Stress Test: Contrasting two distinct protocols

et al. 2015

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Virtual reality adaptations of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST-VR) constitute useful tools for studying the physiologic axes involved in the stress response. Here, we aimed to determine the most appropriate experimental approach to the TSST-VR when investigating the modulation of the axes involved in the stress response. We compared the use of goggles versus a screen projection in the TSST-VR paradigm. Fortyfive healthy participants were divided into two groups: the first one (goggles condition; 13 females, 11 males) wore goggles while performing the TSST-VR; the second (screen condition; 15 females, six males) was exposed to the TSST-VR projected on a screen. Sympathetic reactivity to stress was measured by continuously recording skin conductance (SC), while the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) was evaluated by sampling salivary cortisol throughout the experiment. At the end of the task, there was an increase in SC and cortisol level for both means of delivering the TSST-VR, although the increase in SC was greater in the goggles condition, while salivary cortisol was comparable in both groups. Immersion levels were reportedly higher in the screen presentation than in the goggles group. In terms of sex differences, females experienced greater involvement and spatial presence, though comparatively less experienced realism, than their male counterparts. These findings help us determine which protocol of the TSST-VR is most suitable for the stress response under study. They also emphasize the need to consider the sex of participants, as males and females show distinct responses in each protocol.

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Inducing physiological stress recovery with sounds of nature in a virtual reality forest — Results from a pilot study

Cited by 486 publications

References 40 publications

Ten questions on the soundscapes of the built environment

Ten questions on the soundscapes of the built environment

Effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitude on perception of urban green space

A virtual reality approach to the Trier Social Stress Test: Contrasting two distinct protocols

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