The effect of added sounds on urban soundscape evaluation and listening activity

Understanding the relationship between what people hear in public spaces and what activities they perform there has been a question at the core of soundscape studies for decades. The role of specific sound sources on how public space users evaluate their soundscapes in relation to their activities has been of particular interest to academics and urban practitioners alike. In this context, our study addresses the addition of common urban sound sources, human voices, bird sounds and water sounds, to the urban soundscape, investigating their effect on public space users’ soundscape evaluations while performing different pre-defined activities. A binaural auditory experiment was conducted at Mercatorplein, a public space in Amsterdam, where we asked people to put on open headphones playing one of the three sources and perform one of two activities related to Barry Truax’ states of listening. For the state of ‘listening in search’ participants were asked to focus on and count the sounds of trams passing by. For the state of ‘background listening’ participants were asked to participate in a conversation in which they had to answer a number of questions about themselves. Using surveys, we documented participants’ evaluation of their soundscapes and their perceived appropriateness for the corresponding activity. Our research shows a significant difference in appreciation of the soundscape between the two activities while water sounds are added. The addition of bird sounds was evaluated as pleasant, appropriate for both activities and most stimulating for the counting activity related to listening in search. The addition of human voices was perceived as most chaotic, most eventful and disruptive for both activities.