Exploring the Influence of Avian Vocal Presence on Appraisal of Urban Soundscapes

In this paper, six different acoustic environments with different loudness and sharpness levels were reproduced to two groups of listeners—control and experimental. The difference between the groups was achieved by adding different melodious singing bird sounds to the original recording of a childre...

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Main Authors: Mia Suhanek, Antonio Petosic, Ivan Djurek, Hans Slabbekoorn
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Applied Sciences
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/23/11124
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author Mia Suhanek
Antonio Petosic
Ivan Djurek
Hans Slabbekoorn
author_facet Mia Suhanek
Antonio Petosic
Ivan Djurek
Hans Slabbekoorn
author_sort Mia Suhanek
collection DOAJ
description In this paper, six different acoustic environments with different loudness and sharpness levels were reproduced to two groups of listeners—control and experimental. The difference between the groups was achieved by adding different melodious singing bird sounds to the original recording of a children’s park. Therefore, the recording of the children’s park represents the recording listened to by the control group, while the experimental groups listened to the recordings of a children’s park mixed with different types of bird species. The questionnaire used in this research relies on the semantic differential method implemented by defining bipolar adjective pairs, which are selected in a way that they can significantly describe an auditory and emotional human response to a certain soundscape recording. In analyzing the results, psychological research methodology was used to determine the statistical significance of obtained human feedback, which enabled us to evaluate different acoustic environments appropriately. The calculation and correlation between the objective acoustic parameters (loudness, sharpness, roughness, and fluctuation strength) and subjective questionnaire parameters were carried out. The aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of different singing bird species, which are typical for Eastern Europe in terms of human appraisal and overall well-being, especially for participants residing in urban areas where the decline of biodiversity is already present. The results of this type of study could serve as a guideline for restoring and recovering biodiversity in urban areas across Europe; furthermore, it could benefit residents’ mood and overall health.
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spelling doaj-art-dd2b5fc8f68448bcacefeb68773586642024-12-13T16:22:54ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172024-11-0114231112410.3390/app142311124Exploring the Influence of Avian Vocal Presence on Appraisal of Urban SoundscapesMia Suhanek0Antonio Petosic1Ivan Djurek2Hans Slabbekoorn3Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, CroatiaFaculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, CroatiaFaculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, CroatiaFaculty of Science, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), Leiden University, 2333 BE Leiden, The NetherlandsIn this paper, six different acoustic environments with different loudness and sharpness levels were reproduced to two groups of listeners—control and experimental. The difference between the groups was achieved by adding different melodious singing bird sounds to the original recording of a children’s park. Therefore, the recording of the children’s park represents the recording listened to by the control group, while the experimental groups listened to the recordings of a children’s park mixed with different types of bird species. The questionnaire used in this research relies on the semantic differential method implemented by defining bipolar adjective pairs, which are selected in a way that they can significantly describe an auditory and emotional human response to a certain soundscape recording. In analyzing the results, psychological research methodology was used to determine the statistical significance of obtained human feedback, which enabled us to evaluate different acoustic environments appropriately. The calculation and correlation between the objective acoustic parameters (loudness, sharpness, roughness, and fluctuation strength) and subjective questionnaire parameters were carried out. The aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of different singing bird species, which are typical for Eastern Europe in terms of human appraisal and overall well-being, especially for participants residing in urban areas where the decline of biodiversity is already present. The results of this type of study could serve as a guideline for restoring and recovering biodiversity in urban areas across Europe; furthermore, it could benefit residents’ mood and overall health.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/23/11124soundscapebiodiversitynoise managementacoustic modellingbipolar adjective pairsquestionnaire
spellingShingle Mia Suhanek
Antonio Petosic
Ivan Djurek
Hans Slabbekoorn
Exploring the Influence of Avian Vocal Presence on Appraisal of Urban Soundscapes
Applied Sciences
soundscape
biodiversity
noise management
acoustic modelling
bipolar adjective pairs
questionnaire
title Exploring the Influence of Avian Vocal Presence on Appraisal of Urban Soundscapes
title_full Exploring the Influence of Avian Vocal Presence on Appraisal of Urban Soundscapes
title_fullStr Exploring the Influence of Avian Vocal Presence on Appraisal of Urban Soundscapes
title_full_unstemmed Exploring the Influence of Avian Vocal Presence on Appraisal of Urban Soundscapes
title_short Exploring the Influence of Avian Vocal Presence on Appraisal of Urban Soundscapes
title_sort exploring the influence of avian vocal presence on appraisal of urban soundscapes
topic soundscape
biodiversity
noise management
acoustic modelling
bipolar adjective pairs
questionnaire
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/14/23/11124
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AT hansslabbekoorn exploringtheinfluenceofavianvocalpresenceonappraisalofurbansoundscapes