Influence of Contextual Factors on Soundscape in Urban Open Spaces

Abstract

The acoustic environment in urban open spaces has played a key role for users. This study analyzed the different effects of contextual factors, including shop openness, season, and commercial function, on the soundscape in two typical commercial pedestrian streets. The following observations were based on a series of measurements, including crowd measurements, acoustic environment measurements, and a questionnaire survey. First, the number of talkers in Central Avenue was greater than the number of talkers in Kuan Alley in cases with the same crowd density, while there was no significant difference in the sound pressure level. When the crowd density increased, acoustic comfort trended downward in Kuan Alley, while the value of acoustic comfort in Central Avenue took a parabolic shape. Second, there was no significant difference between the number of talkers in summer and the number of talkers in winter; however, when crowd density increased by 0.1 persons/m2, the level of sound pressure increased by 1.3 dBA in winter and 2.2 dBA in summer. Acoustic comfort took a parabolic shape that first increased and then decreased in both winter and summer. Regarding commercial function, as the crowd density increased, the number of talkers and the level of sound pressure both increased, while acoustic comfort decreased in three zones with different commercial functions. In addition, a cross-tab analysis was used to discuss the relationship between the number of talkers and the level of sound pressure, and it was found to be positive.

Relationship between contextual perceptions and soundscape evaluations based on the structural equation modelling approach

“…In this study, the urban context was classified into three aspects, that is, urban management, natural and urban conditions, and physical environment. Urban management is mainly related to traffic, crowd, and urban planning (Jiang et al, 2016;Hong and Jeon, 2017b;Meng et al, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 74, November 2021, 103192 2017; Zhao et al, 2018), representing the management results of design and strategies.…”

“…In addition, colour coherency and greenery are useful for increasing the soundscape quality (Yu et al, 2014). Crowd density has a parabolic relationship with the subjective parameter of acoustic comfort, which differs from the objective parameter of sound pressure level and subjective loudness (Meng et al, 2017;Zhao et al, 2018). It has been implied that the Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 74, November 2021, 103192 factors of urban conditions and management affect soundscape evaluation.…”

Effects of contexts in urban residential areas on the pleasantness and appropriateness of natural sounds

“…According to ISO 12913-1, the soundscape is defined as the "acoustic environment as perceived or experienced and/or understood by a person or people, in context" [22]. As emphasized in the definition, context plays a critical role in the perceptual construct of soundscapes through their auditory sensations and interpretations, as well as the listeners' "responses to the acoustic environment" [22,23]. The context, as described in ISO 12913-1, can be represented by the people-place-activity framework, whereby the interactions between the people, the place, and its activities are considered as important factors influencing a soundscape [24][25][26].…”

Noise Events Monitoring for Urban and Mobility Planning in Andorra la Vella and Escaldes-Engordany

“…Following the idea of the real-time monitoring of city environments, several works have focused on the assessment of the impact of human activity on environment and human health [34]. In the field of information processing and evaluation, spatial integration of measurements is also a big issue [35], as is the influence of contextual factors [36]. Furthermore, this last work considers the possibility of participative monitoring by the citizen, which is also considered and evaluated in [37,38], but the accuracy of the results depends on the devices and the number of measurements.…”