Work

Effects of natural sounds on the perception of road traffic noise

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Recent studies show that introducing sound from water features in urban open spaces may reduce the loudness of road traffic noise, but it is not clear in which situations this measure also improves overall soundscape quality. This work describes a listening experiment on loudness, pleasantness, and eventfulness of stimuli that combine road traffic noise with fountain or bird sound at different sound levels. Adding fountain sound reduced the loudness of road traffic noise only if the latter had low temporal variability. Conversely, adding bird sound significantly enhanced soundscape pleasantness and eventfulness, more than what was achieved by adding fountain sound.

Source: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

DOI: 10.1121/1.3567073

Authors: Bert De Coensel, Sofie Vanwetswinkel, Dick Botteldooren

Institution: Ghent University

Language: English

Topic: Noise Effects and Management

Subfield: Speech and Hearing

Field: Health Professions

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, Vlaamse regering