Association between perceived sound type dominance and overall assessment of the acoustic environment using ISO 12913 soundwalksa).

Abstract

Transformations of cities into sustainable, health-promoting environments require high-quality acoustic settings. The soundwalk approach according to ISO 12913 (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland) is a participatory tool to assess acoustic environments. Investigation of the relationship between perceived sound type dominance and overall assessments of the surrounding sound environment, comparing two urban areas. Using data of n = 35 soundwalks according to ISO 12913 conducted in an urban neighbourhood and an inner city area in Essen, Germany (2022-2023), 91 participants evaluated, among others, sound type dominance and overall assessment along two routes with six listening stations each. Statistical analyses included descriptive and linear mixed model analyses adjusting for gender, age, wind speed, and temperature. Perceived traffic noise negatively impacts the overall assessments (ß = -0.44, 95% CI: -0.50; -0.38), which is more pronounced in the residential neighbourhood than in the inner city area (-0.59 [-0.69; -0.51], respectively, -0.30 [-0.41; -0.20]). Natural sounds have a positive effect (0.13 [0.08; 0.19]) whereas human sounds showed no effect (-0.07 [-0.12; -0.01]) on the overall assessment. The adjusted effect estimates remain virtually unchanged. The results highlight traffic noise's profoundly negative impact on overall acoustic assessments. The high number of repeated soundwalks provide a robust data set for future evaluations.