Soundscape Evaluation Outside a Taoist Temple: A Case Study of Laojundong Temple in Chongqing, China

The unique architectural form and religious background of Taoist buildings can lead to a special acoustic environment, but there is a lack of research on the soundscape evaluation of Taoist buildings. Laojundong Taoist Temple was selected as the research site. The psychological and physiological responses of Taoist priests and ordinary people, and strategies for soundscape renovation were investigated by conducting field measurements, interviews, soundwalks, and audio–visual experiments. There was significant negative linear regression between the LAeq,5min and soundscape comfort (p < 0.01). The visual landscape comfort of ordinary people was notably correlated with landscape diversity (p < 0.01), whereas their soundscape comfort was markedly correlated with the degree of natural soundscape and audio–visual harmony (p < 0.01). The soundscape evaluation by Taoist priests was affected by their belief, activity types, social factors, and spatial positions. With the increasing proportion of the natural elements in the visual landscape in the temple, the acoustic comfort of Taoist priests and ordinary people significantly increased with the addition of bird sounds (p < 0.01). However, with the increasing proportion of Taoist scenes, Taoist music only significantly improved the acoustic comfort and heart rate of ordinary people (p < 0.01)

The Assessment of Soundscape Quality in Urban Parks - A Case Study in Penn Park

The sonic environment is an invisible but crucial part of the urban environment. Increasing density of population and diversification of social functions driven by urbanization lead to a more complex sound environment in our daily life. As an important multifunctional service area, the urban park is usually regarded as a buffer for urban noise pollution. The assessment of the sonic environment in urban parks can help park-users and park-designers get a better understanding of the health of the park environment. This study approached the urban noise pollution in urban parks with a soundscape quality assessment, from both acoustical and psychological perspectives. An urban park on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania named Penn Park was selected as a case study for soundscape quality assessment. Sound Pressure Level (SPL) was measured at ten sampled positions in Penn Park and processed in ArcMap to make the sound maps, which clearly shown the uneven distribution of the average sound energy in the park: inner part of the park with trees surrounded was the “quietest” and the part along the edge with areas of grass was the “loudest.” In three months (May, June, July) when sound pressure level was recorded by the sound pressure meter, park-users’ subjective responses to the sonic environment of Penn Park were investigated by randomly recruiting park visitors to complete a questionnaire about the soundscape quality. In total, 90 questionnaires were collected and analyzed on SPSS. Results demonstrated that there was a significant positive correlation between overall landscape quality, overall soundscape quality, and overall impression. Compared to mechanical sounds and human-made sounds, visitors preferred more natural sounds (birds, insects, wind) to be increased in Penn Park. Overall, the sonic environment of Penn Park was perceived as pleasant, quiet, smooth, varied, calming, directional, natural, and steady. The results of this study may have implications for the enhancement of soundscape design in other urban parks that are similar to Penn Park

Noise environments in nursing homes : an overview of the literature and a case study in Flanders with quantitative and qualitative methods

As noise is a basic contributor to the evaluation of an environment, the indoor environment of a nursing home (where residents are provided with 24-hour functional support and care) is studied with this focus. General research results, as indicated from a literature review, are limited. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, five nursing homes in Flanders were studied before and after acoustic interventions. Sound levels were measured in individual bedrooms, living rooms and corridors to obtain the typical levels during a day. Acoustic intra-room performance parameters (reverberation time) and inter-room performance parameters (airborne noise insulation level and impact noise insulation level) were measured and compared with Belgian target values. The post operam measurements indicated the potential of the acoustic interventions (use of acoustic curtains, wall and ceiling panels, ventilation grills, floating floors) to improve the building performance and the acoustic climate. From a qualitative viewpoint, the thematic analysis of staff response to the acoustic interventions indicated direct positive outcomes (e.g., more pleasant, quieter indoor soundscapes) with both positive and negative outcomes from perceived indirect effects (i.e., non-acoustic factors)

Acoustic environment of comprehensive activity spaces in nursing homes: A case study in Harbin, China

Nursing homes are places where the elderly conduct their daily activities, and frequent gatherings of nursing home residents may lead to a complicated acoustic environment in which elderly people may have declining ability to function. This study explores the acoustic environment of an activity hall in a nursing home in Harbin, China and assesses the elderly residents’ perception of and preference towards sounds by using site observation, sound measurements, and a questionnaire. The results showed that the elderly evaluated the activity hall’s acoustic environment as poor. When the reverberation time in the hall exceeded four seconds or the sound pressure level exceeded 65 dB(A), their subjective evaluation of the comfort of the acoustic environment declined. Overall, the participants evaluated background and foreground music positively, liked to participate in music-related activities, were not bothered by mechanical sounds, and disliked speech sounds. They preferred (near-) silent activities, while the evaluation of activities with low-dB(A) and high-dB(A) depended on the degree of participation and personal preference. During activities in the activity hall, participators’ acoustic evaluation was generally more positive than that of the onlookers, and music-related activity sounds (singing and dancing) were perceived as more comfortable than vocal activity sounds (playing chess and cards). The results also show that the acoustic environment evaluation is associated with social background factors. This study may help improve the elderly’s quality of life in nursing homes by providing a reference for the construction and design of elderly facilities

The Architectural Manipulation of Sound: Architecturally Articulating Urban Space to Protect and Enhance the Outdoor Acoustic Environment

To date, ‘Urban Design’ has seldom accounted for the quality of the acoustic environment. The significance of sound in the urban environment is understated. This is evident in design attitudes towards Urban Acoustics, which are essentially objective; based on ‘Noise Control Methodologies’, limited by quantitative values and void of sonic variety. The aim of this thesis is firstly, to determine whether an acoustic agenda could be successfully introduced into the urban design process, and secondly, to assess the aesthetic impact of imposing such an agenda on the built environment. To explore these ideas, the thesis combined research from three fields; Urban Design (‘Public Places, Urban Spaces’ by Carmona et al.), Urban Acoustics (‘Urban Sound Environment’ by Jian Kang), and Soundscape Philosophy (founded by R. Murray Schafer). A series of experiments were then conducted using noise propagation software ‘CadnaA’, which studied the acoustic performances of different Street and Open Space Layouts. Conclusions drawn from these experiments and the analysed literature provided the framework for an Urban Design Proposal located in central Wellington, which was used as a means to assess the viability of this design approach. The results of the design-research process suggest that an acoustic agenda can be integrated into the urban design process with relative ease and little conflict, and that many of the Soundscape philosophies inherent in Urban Acoustic Design actually complement well-established Urban Design Principles. Additionally, while this approach is most effective in acoustically challenging areas, the intrinsic design principles can be adopted to enhance both the acoustic and visual aesthetic of any urban design

Speech intelligibility in multilingual spaces

This thesis examines speech intelligibility and multi-lingual communication, in terms of acoustics and perceptual factors. More specifically, the work focused on the impact of room acoustic conditions on the speech intelligibility of four languages representative of a wide range of linguistic properties (English, Polish, Arabic and Mandarin). Firstly, diagnostic rhyme tests (DRT), phonemically balanced (PB) word lists and phonemically balanced sentence lists have been compared under four room acoustic conditions defined by their speech transmission index (STI = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8). The results obtained indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the word intelligibility scores of languages under all room acoustic conditions, apart from the STI = 0.8 condition. English was the most intelligible language under all conditions, and differences with other languages were larger when conditions were poor (maximum difference of 29% at STI = 0.2, 33% at STI = 0.4 and 14% at STI = 0.6). Results also showed that Arabic and Polish were particularly sensitive to background noise, and that Mandarin was significantly more intelligible than those languages at STI = 0.4. Consonant-to-vowel ratios and languages’ distinctive features and acoustical properties explained some of the scores obtained. Sentence intelligibility scores confirmed variations between languages, but these variations were statistically significant only at the STI = 0.4 condition (sentence tests being less sensitive to very good and very poor room acoustic conditions). Additionally, perceived speech intelligibility and soundscape perception associated to these languages was also analysed in three multi-lingual environments: an airport check-in area, a hospital reception area, and a café. Semantic differential analysis showed that perceived speech intelligibility of each language varies with the type of environment, as well as the type of background noise, reverberation time, and signal-to-noise ratio. Variations between the perceived speech intelligibility of the four languages were only marginally significant (p = 0.051), unlike objective intelligibility results. Perceived speech intelligibility of English appeared to be mostly affected negatively by the information content and distracting sounds present in the background noise. Lastly, the study investigated several standards and design guidelines and showed how adjustments could be made to recommended STI values in order to achieve consistent speech intelligibility ratings across languages

Proposing a conceptual framework to develop the hospital soundscape through visual communication

Sound level measurement is used to assess sound within any environment, never more so than in hospitals. This is due to the negative effects that high sound level can have on patients and staff. However, other ways of exploring sound and the soundscape within the hospital context have been used: sound art has conveyed the experiences of heart transplant patients. Art may act as juxtaposition to objective sound level measurement but the two fundamentally attempt to depict attributes of the soundscape. Using theory from design and concepts from art a framework is presented for designing a positive soundscape experience. This is not through the addition of sound per se but through creatively communicating the information contained within a soundscape to enable the everyday listener to interpret a cacophony of hospital sounds more positively. In representing visual communication of sound as a design object, a new way to explore sound may exist

SOUNDCSAPE AND THE UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORIC DISTRICTS IN BANDUNG

According to UNESCO Convention 1972, cultural heritage consists of tangible and intangible heritage. Soundscape has been considered as a part of the intangible heritage, and it refers to the perceptual quality. In the realm of built environment, perceptual qualities become important concerns, since cultural heritage cannot be described and appreciated using mono-sensorial analysis fundamentally based on vision. As perceptual construct, soundscape has been considered as a new approach in understanding the formation and design of sensitive urban environment. It is argued that perceptual quality, besides visual aesthetics, geographic, psychological and socio-cultural aspects, must be part of the considerations in architecture and urban design. Bandung is well-known for its urban heritage, and as former well-designed colonial town, the historic buildings and areas have morphologically constituted the structure of the inner city. However, the modernization and globalization have led to inevitable transformations, including the destruction of historic places and fabric/district of cultural significance. With the latest urban dynamics, urban environment has also experienced an inescapable process of “sound globalization”, which led to the losing of specific sound-marks in the respective area. This paper is based upon an ongoing research project on strategy for conservation of historic urban areas using soundscape approach. Methodologically, through sound walks, surveys and interviews, several notions relating to urban spatial and formal quality have been collected, assessed and interpreted. The result stands for the understanding of perceptual aspects and quality of urban space in historic urban areas that may contribute to the heritage conservation strategy

Noise acceptance of acoustic sequences for indoor soundscape in transport hubs

Noise acceptance is an aspect of indoor soundscape research. While staying or walking in a transport hub, sequential sounds form sequence sounds sessions, which are referred to as an acoustic sequence. The basic phenomenon and effects of acoustic sequences on acceptance evaluations have been explored. A total of 209 sections of 30 s acoustic units were extracted before performing acceptance evaluations. The acoustic units were divided into strong, medium, and weak levels, and compiled into 37 pieces of acoustic sequences, which were then subjected to four tests for acceptance evaluation: sound content, acceptance level, and effects of weak and strong acceptance units. One piece of an acoustic sequence consists of 20 acoustic units. The results show that all acoustic sequences exhibit “attenuation effects”—as for any acoustic unit that makes up the sequence, general acceptance decreases with time. The lower the acceptance, the faster the decay in score. High acceptance units have an “enhancement effect,” and the acceptance increases after a high acceptance unit. Low acceptance units have a “boost effect,” and the acceptance increases after a low-level acceptance. Both enhancement and boost effects could improve the acceptance evaluation of acoustic sequences and sound experiences in transport hubs