Search Results (40)

Indoor soundscape is a relatively new and developing field compared to urban soundscape in practice. To address this gap, this study aims to identify the key influencing factors as a first step of the indoor soundscape intervention approach. The study employed a two-phase methodology. Phase one involved a systematic review (SR) of the literature, conducted through the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, to collate data on the influencing factors and intervention criteria of the indoor soundscape approach. Searching was conducted using two databases, Web of Science and Scopus. As a result of the search, a total of 29 studies were included in the review. The review included studies addressing the soundscape influencing factors and theoretical frameworks. Studies that did not address these criteria were excluded. Phase two comprised the application of the Grounded Theory (GT) coding process to organize, categorize, and merge the data collected in phase one. As a result of the coding process, three levels of categories were achieved; L1: key concept, L2: overarching category, L3: core category. Four core categories were identified as ‘Sound’, ‘People’, ‘Building’, and ‘Environment’ by proposing the indoor soundscape intervention (ISI) criteria. The repeatable and updatable nature of the proposed method allows it to be adapted to further studies and different contexts/cases. Full article

Sound source localization represents one of the major challenges for soundscapes due to the dynamicity of a large variety of signals. Many applications are found related to ecosystems to study the migration process of birds and animals other than other terrestrial environments to survey wildlife. Other applications on sound recording are supported by sensors to detect animal movement. This paper deals with the immersive 3D soundscape by using a multi-channel spherical microphone probe, in combination with a 360° camera. The soundscape has been carried out in three Italian squares across the city of Parma. The acoustic maps obtained from the data processing detect the directivity of dynamic sound sources as typical of an urban environment. The analysis of the objective environmental parameters (like loudness, roughness, sharpness, and prominence) was conducted alongside the investigations on the historical importance of Italian squares as places for social inclusivity. A dedicated listening playback is provided by the AGORA project with a portable listening room characterized by modular unit of soundbars. Full article

Recent advancements in generative neural networks, particularly transformer-based models, have introduced novel possibilities for sound design. This study explores the use of generative pre-trained transformers (GPT) to create complex, multilayered soundscapes from textual and visual prompts. A custom pipeline is proposed, featuring modules for converting the source input into structured sound descriptions and subsequently generating cohesive auditory outputs. As a complementary solution, a granular synthesizer prototype was developed to enhance the usability of generative audio samples by enabling their recombination into seamless and non-repetitive soundscapes. The integration of GPT models with granular synthesis demonstrates significant potential for innovative audio production, paving the way for advancements in professional sound-design workflows and immersive audio applications. Full article

This paper explores the application of a specialized end-to-end framework, crafted to study historical soundscapes, with a specific focus on 18th-century Naples. The framework combines historical research, natural language processing, architectural acoustics, and virtual acoustic modelling to achieve historically accurate and physically based soundscape reconstructions. Central to this study is the development of a Historically Informed Soundscape (HIS) map, which concentrates on the urban spaces of Largo di Palazzo and Via Toledo in Naples. Using virtual and audio-augmented reality, the HIS map provides 3D spatialized audio, offering an immersive experience of the acoustic environment of 18th-century Naples. This interdisciplinary approach not only contributes to the field of sound studies but also represents a significant methodological innovation in the analysis and interpretation of historical urban soundscapes. By incorporating historical maps as interactive graphical user interfaces, the project fosters a dynamic, multisensory engagement with the past, offering a valuable tool for scholars, educators, and the public to explore and understand historical sensory environments. Full article

We present a system that integrates diverse technologies to achieve real-time, distributed audio surveillance. The system employs a network of microphones mounted on ESP32 platforms, which transmit compressed audio chunks via an MQTT protocol to Raspberry Pi5 devices for acoustic classification. These devices host an audio transformer model trained on the AudioSet dataset, enabling the real-time classification and timestamping of audio events with high accuracy. The output of the transformer is kept in a database of events and is subsequently converted into JSON format. The latter is further parsed into a graph structure that encapsulates the annotated soundscape, providing a rich and dynamic representation of audio environments. These graphs are subsequently traversed and analyzed using dedicated Python code and large language models (LLMs), enabling the system to answer complex queries about the nature, relationships, and context of detected audio events. We introduce a novel graph parsing method that achieves low false-alarm rates. In the task of analyzing the audio from a 1 h and 40 min long movie featuring hazardous driving practices, our approach achieved an accuracy of 0.882, precision of 0.8, recall of 1.0, and an F1 score of 0.89. By combining the robustness of distributed sensing and the precision of transformer-based audio classification, our approach that treats audio as text paves the way for advanced applications in acoustic surveillance, environmental monitoring, and beyond. Full article

The application of the soundscape approach is becoming increasingly prevalent in the evaluation of indoor acoustic environments, including office environments. However, the formalisation and standardisation of soundscape assessment methods for offices remain in the early stages, highlighting the need for further development. This systematic review explores the methods and factors involved in soundscape assessments within office environments, which are intended to contribute to creating or improving comprehensive and widely accepted protocols. This review includes 41 studies, revealing that questionnaires (n = 36) are the most commonly used subjective tools, occasionally supplemented by interviews (n = 1). Some studies employ a combination of questionnaire and interview (n = 2), questionnaire and discussion (n = 1), or all three methods—questionnaire, interview, and discussion (n = 1). Meanwhile, direct acoustic measurements (n = 28) and cognitive tasks (n = 14) are often employed for objective evaluations. Additionally, the review categorises factors involved in objective and subjective soundscape assessments into acoustic and non-acoustic elements. It also identifies tools frequently used to assess the correlation between soundscapes and physical and psychological well-being. Collectively, this review underscores the critical factors for comprehensive soundscape assessments in office environments. Full article

Improving the quality of life for people with vision impairments has been an important goal in the research and design of assistive devices for several decades. This paper seeks to further that goal by introducing a novel assistive technology platform that leverages real-time 3D spatial audio to promote safe and efficient navigation for people who are blind or visually impaired (PVI). The presented platform, EchoSee, uses modern 3D scanning technology on a mobile device to construct a live, digital 3D map of a user’s environment as they move about their surroundings. Spatialized, virtual audio sources (i.e., virtual speakers) are dynamically placed within the digital 3D scan of the world, providing the navigator with a real-time 3D stereo audio “soundscape.” The digital 3D map, and its resultant soundscape, are continuously updated as the user moves about their environment. The generated soundscape is played back through headphones connected to the navigator’s device. This paper details (1) the underlying technical components and how they were integrated to produce the mobile application that generates a dynamic soundscape on a consumer mobile device, (2) a methodology for analyzing navigation performance with the application, (3) the design and execution of a user study investigating the effectiveness of the presented system, and (4) a discussion of the results of that study along with a proposed future study and possible improvements. Altogether, this paper presents a novel software platform aimed at assisting individuals with vision impairments to navigate and understand spaces safely, efficiently, and independently and the results of a feasibility study analyzing the viability of the approach. Full article

Humans perceive their surrounding environments largely through their experiences of sight and hearing. The perceived environmental information then brings on neurophysiological changes, so as to influence human emotions. These mutually influenced relations have been widely utilized by many environmental psychologists to explore potential avenues for improving human emotions through design interventions. However, to date, no efficient and accurate way has been established to describe these relationships. Inspired by Russell’s model of emotion, this study aims to develop an efficient process that uses coordinate mapping and can intuitively describe the impact of visual-aural perceptive attributes on human emotions. Taking typical urban green spaces (UGSs) in Chengdu as examples, this study first measured the visual and aural characteristics of study sites perceived by people and their emotional responses. The study then established the use of emotional status on a coordinate axis, allowing each visual-aural attribute corresponding to each emotional response to be projected onto the coordinates. Results suggested that the dataset composed of 279 evaluations could be classified into three distinct types of visual-aural settings and the distribution of emotions is evidently varied in different settings. It was found that aesthetic and order of visual aspects as well as eventful and harmonious soundscape in environments are more likely to make people feel pleasure, while openness and layering of the visual landscape can easily arouse people’s positive status. The research outcome broadens the practical path of soundscape research, centring on human emotions, experiences and feelings, such as the pleasantness and arousal raised in Russell’s theory of emotion. The study also makes an empirical contribution to the design of UGSs based on multi-sensory perception and serves the purpose of improving people’s environmental experiences. Full article

Musical cultural heritage, as an important component of cultural heritage, possesses significant cultural value and inheritance significance. With the development of society and the passage of time, these precious traditional musical cultural heritages inevitably face the dilemma of gradual depletion or even disappearance. In the digital age, effectively protecting and inheriting these musical cultural heritages has become an urgent problem to be addressed. Therefore, this paper proposes an application method based on digital twin technology, exploring how to protect and inherit musical cultural heritages through digital twin technology. By leveraging digital twin technology, a virtual museum dedicated to showcasing the richness and historical connotations of music cultures is created, preserving and simulating the soundscapes of historical music eras. Through the integration of audio archives, 3D modeling, and interactive displays, users can immerse themselves in the experience of historical music in the digital space. This paper evaluates the feasibility and cultural preservation value of this digital music history museum through the creation of music digital twin technology instances and user survey feedback and discusses the prospects of digital twins in the field of musical cultural heritage. Full article

This research introduces an experimental framework based on 3D acoustic and psycho-acoustic sensors supplemented with ambisonics and sound morphological analysis, whose objective is to study urban soundscapes. A questionnaire that highlights the differences between what has been measured and what has been perceiveSd by humans complements the quantitative approach with a qualitative evaluation. The comparison of the measurements with the questionnaire provides a global vision of the perception of these soundscapes, as well as differences and similarities. The approach is experimented within the historical center of the Tunisian city of Sidi Bou Saïd, demonstrating that from a range of complementary protocols, a soundscape environment can be qualified. This framework provides an additional dimension to urban planning studies. Full article

Existing studies have focused mainly on the environmental quality of scenic spots, such as sufficient oxygen content in the air and a high concentration of negative oxygen ions. The perceptions of soundscape in scenic areas are generally good, but there are few reports on the quantitative evaluation of soundscape quality in scenic areas. In this study, we analysed existing methods for evaluating the soundscape of a landscape, evaluated the soundscape comfort of scenic spots, analysed and refined the natural environmental factors affecting the soundscape, and proposed for the first time to use physical environmental indicators such as the air temperature difference, relative humidity, natural illuminance ratio and wind speed as environmental evaluation variables. A quantitative method was used to calculate the soundscape comfort index (SSI) of the landscape. The physical environmental indicators related to famous scenic spots in China, namely, Qingcheng mountain field testing and a subjective soundscape of tourist satisfaction survey, were used to calculate the corresponding soundscape comfort index values, and a quantitative analysis of soundscape comfort and differences in temperature, relative humidity, the illumination ratio, and the correlation between the equivalent sound level A was performed. The measured values of the temperature difference and light ratio were significantly correlated with the soundscape comfort index. The distribution of sound landscape comfort was given by a GIS map, and soundscape comfort was evaluated scientifically. The correlations between soundscape comfort and landscape patch number (PN), landscape patch density (PD), diversity index (Shannon), and landscape shape index (LSI) were quantitatively analysed, which confirmed that the perception of soundscape comfort was affected by landscape space to different degrees. This study has scientific significance and application value for the soundscape evaluation of scenic areas and has significance for soundscape evaluation and design strategies for urban landscapes. Full article

Human soundscape perceptions exist through the perceived environment rather than the physical environment itself and are determined not only by the acoustic environment but also by the visual environment and their interaction. However, these relationships have mainly been established at the individual level, which may impede the efficient delivery of human-oriented considerations in improving the quality of large-scale urban spaces. Using the Chengdu Outer Ring Ecological Zone as an example, this study aims to develop an approach to predict human perceptions in large-scale urban green spaces. The site’s visual attributes, i.e., landscape composition, were calculated using space syntax and the quantum geographic information system (QGIS); its aural attributes, i.e., the sound level, were measured on site using a multi-channel signal analyzer; and its functional attributes, i.e., vitality, were documented through on-site observations and mapping. This was performed whilst obtaining people’s perceived soundscape through sound walks and a questionnaire-based on-site survey. The above environmental information was collected at micro-scale measurement spots selected within the site and then used together to formulate a model for predicting people’s soundscape perceptions in the whole site. The prediction results suggested that people’s perceived soundscape satisfaction increased as the distance from the ring road increased, and it gradually reached its highest level in the green spaces stretched outside the ring road. The prediction results of soundscape perception were then visualized using QGIS to develop planning and design implications, along with maps describing the site’s visual, aural, and functional features. Planning and design implications were suggested, including setting green buffers between noise sources and vulnerable areas; identifying and preserving areas with special visual and acoustic characteristics; employing sound shields around traffic facilities; and using natural landscapes to distract people’s attention from noise and to block their view of the source of noise. This study innovatively predicts individual-scale soundscape perception in large-scale UGSs based on environmental visual, aural, and functional characteristics through cross-level measurements, analyses, and model construction. By introducing a systematic perspective, the outcome of this study makes people’s soundscape perceptions more applicable in the planning and design practices of large-scale urban settings. Full article

Bats are widely distributed around the world, have adapted to many different environments and are highly sensitive to changes in their habitat, which makes them essential bioindicators of environmental changes. Passive acoustic monitoring over long durations, like months or years, accumulates large amounts of data, turning the manual identification process into a time-consuming task for human experts. Automated acoustic monitoring of bat activity is therefore an effective and necessary approach for bat conservation, especially in wind energy applications, where flying animals like bats and birds have high fatality rates. In this work, we provide a neural-network-based approach for bat echolocation pulse detection with subsequent genus classification and species classification under real-world conditions, including various types of noise. Our supervised model is supported by an unsupervised learning pipeline that uses autoencoders to compress linear spectrograms into latent feature vectors that are fed into a UMAP clustering algorithm. This pipeline offers additional insights into the data properties, aiding in model interpretation. We compare data collected from two locations over two consecutive years sampled at four heights (10 m, 35 m, 65 m and 95 m). With sufficient data for each labeled bat class, our model is able to comprehend the full echolocation soundscape of a species or genus while still being computationally efficient and simple by design. Measured classification F1 scores in a previously unknown test set range from 92.3% to 99.7% for species and from 94.6% to 99.4% for genera. Full article

The behavioural, physiological, and energetic repercussions for wildlife that result from changes in their soundscapes are increasingly being realized. To understand the effects of changing acoustic landscapes, we first must establish the importance of the acoustic sense for species to transfer information between the environment, con- and heterospecifics, and a receiver, and the functional role of calling in behaviours such as foraging, navigation, mate attraction, and weaning. This review begins with a discussion of the use of calling and the acquisition of the vocal repertoire, before providing examples from multiple taxa on the functional applications of signals and communication. The acoustic sensory mode adds to, if not being inherent in, many critical life history stages over a range of species. The potential effects on an animal resulting from a change in its perceived soundscape and disturbance on its acoustics use is outlined. This can then be used to consider the implications of an altered acoustic niche or active space in the success and survival of an individual or species. Furthermore, we discuss briefly metrics that could be used to understand the implications of these changes, or could be used to guide mitigation action to lessen the impact. Full article

The subjective judgment on the annoyance produced by noise is always an important tool to complete an investigation, and to find the best way for its reduction. Therefore, acoustic analyses for environmental improvement frequently combine objective measures with subjective surveys to gain a comprehensive understanding of the problem. The technical specification, concerning the “Assessment of noise annoyance by means of social and socio-acoustic surveys”, ISO/TS 15666 (revised in 2021), has represented a basis for these activities since 2003, when it aimed to obtain information about noise annoyance “at home”. The more recent ISO/TS 12913-2 (2018), aimed at soundscape studies, investigations and applications, provides guidelines for conducting social and socio-acoustic surveys to assess noise annoyance and, in particular, it gives detailed indications on data collection and reporting. The indications provided by the technical specifications represent a common guideline for addressing the implementation of a subjective survey in the acoustic field, and to make investigations as comparable as possible. However, they do not cover all the fields of acoustic subjective investigations. Therefore, to make the collection of information from questionnaires more effective, it is useful to have a broader review of the issues that need to be addressed. To support this type of activity, this paper collects and presents relevant observations for the design of subjective survey questionnaires focused on outdoor acoustic quality. Drawing on previous research studies and experiences, it provides a series of observations on the main aspects to be considered in order to structure multipurpose acoustic evaluation questionnaires, including discussion of the general considerations for questionnaire structure, administration methods, population sample characterization, question formulation, and classification. It also deals with specific indications related to acoustic evaluations, such as the characteristics of annoying noise, boundary conditions, subjective feelings, and source features. Full article