Laboratory annoyance and skin conductance responses to some natural sounds

Björk, Erkki

doi:10.1016/s0022-460x(86)80013-x

Cited by 23 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Jahncke et al (2011) demonstrated that listening to river sounds increased motivation in fatigued participants over listening to background office noise. In psychophysiological studies Björk (1986Björk ( , 1995 demonstrated how the sounds of water have greater ability than human sounds to induce states of relaxation, (measured through HR, SC and electromyographic responses), and Alvarsson et al (2010) found that river sounds were rated as more pleasant than urban sounds. Both Jahncke et al (2011) and Alvarsson et al (2010) used water soundtracks that included birdsong, and this too has been observed as an important sound that is missed when nature is presented without an accompanying soundtrack (Kjellgren and Buhrkall, 2010;Annerstedt et al, 2013).…”

Section: The Effects Of Sound On Scene Perception Restoration and Phmentioning

confidence: 99%

A methodological approach to understanding the wellbeing and restorative benefits associated with greenspace

Conniff

Craig

2016

Urban Forestry & Urban Greening

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Section: The Effects Of Sound On Scene Perception Restoration and Phmentioning

confidence: 99%

A methodological approach to understanding the wellbeing and restorative benefits associated with greenspace

Conniff

Craig

2016

Urban Forestry & Urban Greening

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“…However, few investigations have examined in detail how natural sounds are perceived. Among natural sounds in cities singing by birds has been found to enhance positive feelings and to be associated with relaxation (Björk 1986;Viollon et al 2002;Ratcliffe et al 2013;Hedblom et al 2014). In fact, birdsong influenced the visual perception of urban sites in an experiment with young urban people (Hedblom et al 2014).…”

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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“…Similarly, sounds that reduce stress or increase well-being are often vaguely described using terms such as ‘natural sounds’ or ‘twittering birds’ or ‘sounds of light breeze’ (e.g. [15–17,20,21]). However, Ratcliffe et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of natural sounds in urban greenery: potential impact for urban nature preservation

et al. 2017

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Most humans now live in cities and their main experience of nature is through urban greenery. An increasing number of studies show the importance of urban green spaces for well-being, although most of them are based on visual perception. A questionnaire examining people's evaluations of natural sounds was answered by 1326 individuals living near one of six urban green areas of varying naturalness in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. Women and the elderly reported greater calmness when hearing bird song and rustling leaves (and placed a higher importance on the richness of bird species) than did men, younger and middle-aged individuals. Independent of age and gender, urban woodlands (high naturalness) had higher evaluations than parks (low naturalness). Our results suggest that to increase positive experiences of urban green areas, demographic variables of gender and age should be taken into account, and settings that mimic nature should be prioritized in planning.

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Laboratory annoyance and skin conductance responses to some natural sounds

Cited by 23 publications

References 6 publications

A methodological approach to understanding the wellbeing and restorative benefits associated with greenspace

A methodological approach to understanding the wellbeing and restorative benefits associated with greenspace

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

Evaluation of natural sounds in urban greenery: potential impact for urban nature preservation

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