In an attempt to understand the effect of sounds on physiological measurements, along the positive (pleasant) - negative (unpleasant) subjective dimension, 51 subjects (26 male) listened to 13 sounds in clips of 8s interspersed with 16s of silence while their heart rate, respiratory rate and skin conductance were measured and they recorded the subjective pleasantness of the sound. The sounds were in three categories, natural (eg birdsong) human (eg crying) and transportation (eg aircraft take-off). There were highly significant decreases in heart rate and significant increases in respiratory rate with some gender differences in response to the sounds. Initial analysis showed no significant correlation between the physiological measures and the subjective evaluations of the pleasantness of the sounds.

The Positive Soundscapes Project is an interdisciplinary investigation of soundscape perception [1]. The project seeks to develop a rounded view of human perception of soundscapes by drawing together methods from the disciplines of engineering sound quality [2], acoustics, psychoacoustics, physiology [3], as well as sound art, acoustic ecology and social science [4]. In the acoustics community, sound in the environment, especially that made by other people has overwhelmingly been considered in negative terms as both intrusive and undesirable. The strong focus of traditional engineering acoustics on reducing noise levels ignores the many possibilities for characterizing positive aspects of the soundscape, whereas art and social science disciplines interpret soundscape perception as a multimodal and multi-dimensional concept. The project team come from a wide range of disciplines and are applying their experiences to investigate soundscapes from different aspects to produce a more nuanced and complete picture of listener response than has so far been achieved. In order for the team behind the project to achieve this, an underpinning framework is required, by which to approach and move the project forward, while aligning thinking from the different disciplines. This paper describes a high-level first iteration of the conceptual framework, which is structured in three parts. The use and potential application of the framework within the Positive Soundscapes Project is then discussed.

This paper takes an overall view of findings from the Positive Soundscape Project, a large inter-disciplinary soundscapes study. Qualitative fieldwork (soundwalks and focus groups) have found that soundscape perception is influenced by cognitive effects such as the meaning of a soundscape and its components, and how information is conveyed by a soundscape, for example on the behaviour of people within the soundscape. Three significant clusters were found in the language people use to describe soundscapes: sound sources, sound descriptors and soundscape descriptors. Results from listening tests and soundwalks have been integrated to show that the two principal dimensions of soundscape emotional response seem to be calmness and vibrancy. Further, vibrancy seems to have two aspects: organisation of sounds and changes over time. The possible application of the results to soundscape assessment and design are briefly discussed.

It is useful for planners to understand the emotional dimensions on which people assess urban soundscapes, since these dimensions demonstrate how a particular soundscape affects people's perceptions of an urban space. We have previously established that there is a 2-deminsional space that can describe how people feel about a place from hearing its soundscape: the two independent dimensions are calmness/relaxation and vibrancy. Using these two dimensions, the research presented in this paper now considers how different urban soundscapes can be positioned within this two dimensional space. A series of listening tests in which participants rated real and constructed soundscapes against the two dimensions are presented. The results of the study suggest that soundscapes can be positioned in different places within our 2-dimensional perceptual space, yet they can have the same metrics. This challenges the conventional idea, that traditional acoustic metrics, and combinations of these are the best way to measure a soundscape.

This paper takes an overall view of ongoing findings from the Positive Soundscape Project, a large inter-disciplinary soundscapes study which is nearing completion. Qualitative fieldwork (soundwalks and focus groups) and lab-based listening tests have revealed that two key dimensions of the emotional response are calmness and vibrancy. In the lab these factors explain nearly 80% of the variance in listener response. Physiological validation is being sought using fMRI measurements, and these have so far shown significant differences in the response of the brain to affective and neutral soundscapes. A conceptual framework which links the key soundscape components and which could be used for future design is outlined. Metrics are suggested for some perceptual scales and possibilities for soundscape synthesis for design and user engagement are discussed, as are the applications of the results to future research and environmental noise policy.

People's assessments of urban soundscapes are dependent upon many factors. For example, perceptions of a soundscape may depend on the activity that the listener is doing and their associated listening state at the time. Temporal variations (daily, weekly, seasonal) can also affect perceptions of the soundscape, as can the type and usage of urban space, architectural characteristics and the cultural and historical setting. The context of listening is also a factor in terms of the cognitions that people bring to the listening situation by way of memories, preferences, attitudes, values and meaning. In order to inform the planning process with regard to assessing and creating positive urban soundscapes, a framework is under development. The framework attempts to bring together all the influencing factors in urban soundscape assessment in a new and novel way, and considers how the identification of sources and the variety and mix of sources interact to produce a soundscape. The framework presented in this paper forms the basis of multi-disciplinary soundscape research in the EPSRC funded "Positive Soundscapes Project", which seeks to develop a rounded view of human perception of soundscapes by combining methods from several disciplines.

December 01 2001 Geese (C. 1974) Peter Cusack Peter Cusack 79 Maury Road, London, N16 7BT, U.K. E-mail: . Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Peter Cusack 79 Maury Road, London, N16 7BT, U.K. E-mail: . Online ISSN: 1531-4812 Print ISSN: 0961-1215 © 2001 ISAST2001 Leonardo Music Journal (2001) 11: 101. https://doi.org/10.1162/lmj.2001.11.101b Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Search Site Citation Peter Cusack; Geese (C. 1974). Leonardo Music Journal 2001; 11 101. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/lmj.2001.11.101b Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsLeonardo Music Journal Search Advanced Search This content is only available as a PDF. © 2001 ISAST2001 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Current policy on environmental sound is largely based on noise control. There is considerable interest in exploiting the soundscape concept to provide a more sophisticated way of managing our acoustic environment. For this to happen, a tool for assessing soundscape quality is needed. This paper reports on an exploratory attempt to define a soundscape evaluation tool. It is based on the work of the Positive Soundscape Project which has provided a qualitative and quantitative account of soundscape perception. The evaluation tool integrates these perceptual results with outlines of what can be measured and how user behaviour can be characterised to supply the information that an urban design or planning team might need. Soundscape evaluation could be used to support planning decisions related to how a new development might change the current soundscape as well as helping decide where and how to intervene in a soundscape.

The Positive Soundscape Project is a multi-disciplinary investigation of soundscape perception which started in October 2006. This paper communicates the aims and design of the project and discusses some early results. The project seeks to develop a rounded view of human perception of soundscapes by combining methods from several disciplines. This will involve a move away from measuring sound just as noise. In this respect artistic and ethnographic conceptions of the soundscape are more advanced than mainstream acoustic ones. (While acoustics is tentatively moving away from LAeq as the sole descriptor, artists have interpreted soundscape perception as multi-modal and multi-dimensional from the beginning.) Thus, the PSP work uses methods from sound art, acoustic ecology and social science as well as techniques from acoustics, psychoacoustics, physiology, neuroimaging and sound quality. The project has an unusual design in that there is a two-way exchange between the different disciplines. For example, an artistically conceived 'soundtoy' will be used to stimulate discussion in social science focus groups and to inspire laboratory psychoacoustic experiments. A pilot investigation of an urban soundscape in the UK has been conducted and preliminary conclusions will be drawn on the benefits and problems of an intensely inter-disciplinary approach.