Soundscape assessment: Towards a validated translation of perceptual attributes in different languages

The recently published ISO/TS 12913-2:2018 standard aims to provide researchers and practitioners around the world with a reliable questionnaire for soundscape characterization. The ISO Technical Specifications report protocols and attributes grounded in the soundscape literature, but only includes an English version. The applicability and reliability of these attributes in non-English speaking regions remains an open question, as research investigating translations of soundscape attributes is limited. To address this gap, an international collaboration was initiated with soundscape researchers from all over the world. Translation into 15 different languages, obtained through focus groups and panels of experts in soundscape studies, are proposed. The main challenges and outcomes of this preliminary exercise are discussed. The long-term objective is to validate the proposed translations using standardized listening experiments in different languages and geographical regions as a way to promote a widespread use of the soundscape attributes, both in academia and practice, across locations, populations and languages

Preliminary results of the Soundscape Attributes Translation Project (SATP): lessons learned and next steps

The ISO/TS 12913-2:2018 document for soundscape data collection provides a questionnaire instrument for researchers and practitioners to use worldwide, but its applicability has been questioned, since it's only available in English. To address the lack of research on translations of the soundscape descriptors proposed in Method A of the ISO technical specifications (i.e., vibrant, pleasant, calm, uneventful, monotonous, annoying, chaotic, eventful), an international collaboration, the Soundscape Attributes Translation Project (SATP), was initiated to translate the descriptors into several languages, using different methodological approaches, with the goal of validating the translations using standardized listening experiments. This paper presents the current state of advancement of the project, reporting on preliminary results from selected national working groups within the SATP network, as well as discussing the proposed analysis framework to validate the translations