How to integrate the soundscape resource into landscape planning? A perspective from ecosystem services

In landscape planning and policy-making, environmental sounds have only negative impacts on human health. The natural sounds that promote healthy and supportive environments remain neglected. Although the soundscape concept and approach have considered natural sounds as a resource, the related knowledge has not been employed in landscape planning yet. The purpose of this study is to advance existing state of knowledge to synthesize common preferences for soundscape resources, and then to propose an assessment method for landscape planning. We introduce a planning-oriented soundscape resource evaluation framework to guide a PRISMA systematic literature review. The review includes an in-depth analysis of 74 peer-reviewed journal articles and a meta-analysis for 21 of them. We find that (1) current research has under-explored the soundscape with regard to spatiotemporal evolution, health benefits, and preferences and values; (2) in green spaces, people from different sociocultural contexts exhibit common preferences for soundscape resources. According to these, soundscape formal characters tend towards naturalness, diversity, and appropriateness; (3) exposure to natural sounds does have positive effects on human health and well-being, but the degree of the effects was varied. In addition to birdsongs and water sounds, wind-induced vegetation sounds also have high values. Based on these findings, we suggest basic natural sound scores and categorized indicators for evaluating NSES. It can be implemented in Geographic Information System to produce place-based and comparable results under uncertainty. The results can help landscape planners better consider the contribution of the acoustic environment to human health, well-being, and quality of life, protect the areas of high-quality soundscape resources without actual human uses, and reveal the differences between the actual provision of aesthetic values and demands for nature-based recreation

How to integrate the soundscape resource into landscape planning? A perspective from ecosystem services

In landscape planning and policy-making, environmental sounds have only negative impacts on human health. The natural sounds that promote healthy and supportive environments remain neglected. Although the soundscape concept and approach have considered natural sounds as a resource, the related knowledge has not been employed in landscape planning yet. The purpose of this study is to advance existing state of knowledge to synthesize common preferences for soundscape resources, and then to propose an assessment method for landscape planning. We introduce a planning-oriented soundscape resource evaluation framework to guide a PRISMA systematic literature review. The review includes an in-depth analysis of 74 peer-reviewed journal articles and a meta-analysis for 21 of them. We find that (1) current research has under-explored the soundscape with regard to spatiotemporal evolution, health benefits, and preferences and values; (2) in green spaces, people from different sociocultural contexts exhibit common preferences for soundscape resources. According to these, soundscape formal characters tend towards naturalness, diversity, and appropriateness; (3) exposure to natural sounds does have positive effects on human health and well-being, but the degree of the effects was varied. In addition to birdsongs and water sounds, wind-induced vegetation sounds also have high values. Based on these findings, we suggest basic natural sound scores and categorized indicators for evaluating NSES. It can be implemented in Geographic Information System to produce place-based and comparable results under uncertainty. The results can help landscape planners better consider the contribution of the acoustic environment to human health, well-being, and quality of life, protect the areas of high-quality soundscape resources without actual human uses, and reveal the differences between the actual provision of aesthetic values and demands for nature-based recreation. © 202

Soundscape in Urban Forests

This Special Issue of Forests explores the role of soundscapes in urban forested areas. It is comprised of 11 papers involving soundscape studies conducted in urban forests from Asia and Africa. This collection contains six research fields: (1) the ecological patterns and processes of forest soundscapes; (2) the boundary effects and perceptual topology; (3) natural soundscapes and human health; (4) the experience of multi-sensory interactions; (5) environmental behavior and cognitive disposition; and (6) soundscape resource management in forests

Birding by Ear: A Study of Recreational Specialization and Soundscape Preference

Soundscapes have become recognized as an important natural resource. The traditional human-made versus natural soundscape comparison currently used in recreational resource management is challenged by borrowing soundscape components (i.e., biophony, anthrophony, and geophony) from soundscape ecology. This study is designed to evaluate the soundscape preference of birders. A three-component model of recreational specialization was used to evaluate how recreationists may differ in their preference for soundscape components. Data from in-person surveys collected at The Audubon Center and Sanctuary at Francis Beidler Forest in Harleyville, South Carolina were used in combination with surveys from online birding list servers to obtain a sample of 415 individuals with varying levels of specialization. The findings suggest that soundscape preference exists as biophony, geophony, and anthrophony and that preference for geophony differs among specialization segments

Park Visitors and the Natural Soundscape: Winter Experience Dimensions in Yellowstone National Park

The natural soundscape is becoming increasingly recognized as a threatened park resource. A variety of policies, laws, and regulations have rapidly been established that affect the National Park Service mandate and require the agency and individual parks to protect, preserve, and restore natural sounds. National Parks are grappling with how to manage the newly legitimized natural soundscape resource and this research provides some of the first significant knowledge of visitor experiences of park soundscapes and preferences for management policies. The role of the natural soundscape in visitor experiences was explored through both interview and survey data with the primary goal of documenting dimensions of the experiences of natural sounds. Findings from this research highlight that not only do the majority of winter visitors to Yellowstone National Park believe that natural sounds are important to their experience of the park, but that deep meanings and complexity characterize visitor perceptions of the role of the natural soundscape to the overall value of the park and influence perceptions of the role of mechanized sounds in the park. While differences among the three primary user groups (cross-country skiers, snow coach riders, and snowmobilers) do exist, the data reflects a much greater degree of common ground and general agreement on most issues related to the park natural soundscape that were explored in this research

Motorized recreation sounds influence nature scene evaluations: The role of attitude moderators

Soundscape assessment takes many forms, including letting the consequences of the soundscape be an indicator of soundscape quality or value. As a result, much social science research has been conducted to better quantify problem soundscapes and the subsequent effects on humans exposed to them. Visual evaluations of natural environments are one area where research has consistently shown detrimental effects of noisy or anthropogenic soundscapes (e.g., those containing noise from motorized recreation), but the potential moderating role of individual attitudes toward elements within the soundscape has not been sufficiently explored. This study demonstrates that both pro-motorized recreation and pro-motorized recreation management attitudes can alter the effect of motorized recreation noise on scenic evaluations in opposing directions. Pro-recreation attitudes lessen the effect of the soundscape, while pro-management attitudes heighten the negative effect of anthropogenic sounds on scenic evaluation. The implications for other areas of soundscape research, especially with regard to soundscape quality assessment through experienced outcomes, are discussed, including possible strategies for prioritizing known or relevant moderating variables

Before Becoming a World Heritage: Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Spatial Dependency of the Soundscapes in Kulangsu Scenic Area, China

Kulangsu is a famous scenic area in China and a World Heritage Site. It is important to obtain knowledge with regard to the status of soundscape and landscape resources and their interrelationships in Kulangsu before it became a World Heritage. The objective of this study was to explore the spatial dependency of the soundscapes in Kulangsu, based on the spatiotemporal dynamics of soundscape and landscape perceptions, including perceived sound sources, soundscape quality, and landscape satisfaction degree, and the spatial landscape characteristics, including the distance to green spaces, normalized difference vegetation index, and landscape spatial patterns. The results showed that perception of soundscape and landscape were observed in significant spatiotemporal dynamics, and the dominance of biological sounds in all sampling periods and human sounds in the evening indicated that Kulangsu scenic area had a good natural environment and a developed night-time economy, respectively. The green spaces and commercial lands may contribute to both the soundscape pleasantness and eventfulness. Moreover, the soundscape quality was dependent on the sound dominant degree and landscape satisfaction degree but not on the landscape characteristics. The GWR model had better goodness of fit than the OLS model, and possible non-linear relationships were found between the soundscape pleasantness and the variables of perceived sound sources and landscape satisfaction degree. The GWR models with spatial stationarity were found to be more effective in understanding the spatial dependence of soundscapes. In particular, the data applied should ideally include a complete temporal dimension to obtain a relatively high fitting accuracy of the model. These findings can provide useful data support and references for future planning and design practices, and management strategies for the soundscape resources in scenic areas and World Heritage Sites

Sonic Urbanities: Undoing the Soundscape and Aural History in Kingston, NY

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College

How to integrate the soundscape resource into landscape planning? A perspective from ecosystem services

In landscape planning and policy-making, environmental sounds have only negative impacts on human health. The natural sounds that promote healthy and supportive environments remain neglected. Although the soundscape concept and approach have considered natural sounds as a resource, the related knowledge has not been employed in landscape planning yet. The purpose of this study is to advance existing state of knowledge to synthesize common preferences for soundscape resources, and then to propose an assessment method for landscape planning. We introduce a planning-oriented soundscape resource evaluation framework to guide a PRISMA systematic literature review. The review includes an in-depth analysis of 74 peer-reviewed journal articles and a meta-analysis for 21 of them. We find that (1) current research has under-explored the soundscape with regard to spatiotemporal evolution, health benefits, and preferences and values; (2) in green spaces, people from different sociocultural contexts exhibit common preferences for soundscape resources. According to these, soundscape formal characters tend towards naturalness, diversity, and appropriateness; (3) exposure to natural sounds does have positive effects on human health and well-being, but the degree of the effects was varied. In addition to birdsongs and water sounds, wind-induced vegetation sounds also have high values. Based on these findings, we suggest basic natural sound scores and categorized indicators for evaluating NSES. It can be implemented in Geographic Information System to produce place-based and comparable results under uncertainty. The results can help landscape planners better consider the contribution of the acoustic environment to human health, well-being, and quality of life, protect the areas of high-quality soundscape resources without actual human uses, and reveal the differences between the actual provision of aesthetic values and demands for nature-based recreation

Creación dunha paisaxe sonora como ferramenta de mediación e de experiencia da visita. O caso do Castell de Cardona

Immersive museum exhibits offer visitors an active, multisensory experience. The aim of this research is to create a distinctive new experience-mediating soundscape resource for the Cardona Castle heritage site. The resource uses immersive (binaural) audio as a means of communication and storytelling. The research includes a study of the castle’s history and the surrounding area, in order to identify possible new subject of interest, and an assessment of the exhibits currently offered at the site. The soundscape evokes different moments and situations from history to give visitors a more personal experience of heritage. The tool is intended as a sustainable resource for tourism managers and an effective way of communicating the historical value of heritage sites and artefacts.  La museografía inmersiva proporciona un tipo de experiencia centrado en la percepción del visitante, dándole un papel activo en una visita patrimonial. El presente trabajo se plantea como objetivo principal la conceptualización de un recurso de mediación complementario, novedoso y diferenciador, para el entorno patrimonial del castillo de Cardona, fundamentado en el uso de una herramienta de tipo tecnológico, que emplea el sonido inmersivo (binaural ) como medio de transmisión.Para ello se plantean una investigación historiográfica, para determinar nuevos temas interpretativos, una valoración de la actual museografía y de las posibilidades del entorno. Se crean ambientaciones sugerentes, para que el visitante pueda sentirse protagonista de la experiencia de visita y se configura además como un recurso sostenible para el gestor turístico y con un gran potencial comunicativo para la puesta en valor de los elementos patrimoniales.A museografía inmersiva proporciona un tipo de experiencia centrado na percepción do visitante, dándolle un papel activo nunha visita patrimonial. O presente traballo define como obxectivo principal a conceptualización dun recurso de mediación complementario, novedoso e diferenciador, para o entorno patrimonial do Castelo de Cardona, fundamentado no uso dunha ferramenta de tipo tecnolóxico, que emprega o sonido inmersivo (binaural ) como medio de transmisión. Para iso defínese unha investigación historiográfica, para determinar novos temas interpretativos, unha valoración da actual museografía e das posibilidades do entorno. Créanse ambientacións suxerentes, para que o visitante poda sentirse protagonista da experiencia de visita e configúrase ademáis como un recursos sustentable para o xestor turístico e cun gran potencial comunicativo para a posta en valor dos elementos patrimoniais