Cyber enhancing the urban soundscape

Sound is one of the most direct pathways to a person’s mood and emotions. Tuning the urban soundscape by enhancing the experience of existing elements or by introducing new sounds therefore allows to create more pleasant and restoring public spaces or to nudge the crowd towards a more social behaviour. For this, sounds produced by loudspeakers or mechanical systems have been used but apart from some sonic exhibitions, the installations do not allow for user interaction. This paper discusses how ICT could be introduced in soundscape design. It is based on recent findings on perception of the urban sonic environment and interpretation of the soundscape by the users of the space. Evolution in machine listening allows to adapt installations to the current state of the soundscape and open new opportunities. It is concluded that the ICT may promote urban sound planning, an often forgotten aspect of designing the urban environment.Funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union.peer-reviewe