Reproducibility of soundscape dimensions

Davies, WJ; Murphy, J

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the validity of laboratory soundscape reproduction and the robustness of soundscape dimensional analysis. The soundscapes in four urban locations in Manchester (UK) were recorded with a soundfield microphone. The soundscapes were reproduced through an ambisonic 3D loudspeaker system in a semi-anechoic chamber. Fifteen listeners rated the reproduced soundscapes on nineteen eleven-point semantic differential scales. Factor analysis revealed that four dimensions explained 65% of the variance in the judgements. The dimensions were: relaxation/calmness (41%), dynamics/vibrancy (10%), communication (7%) and spatiality (7%). This experiment can be compared with that of Kang (2007), who used very similar rating scales on outdoor soundwalks in two locations in Sheffield (UK). Kang found dimensions of relaxation (26%), communication (12%), spatiality (8%) and dynamics (7%). The dimensions from the two experiments load onto the semantic scales in a similar way. These results indicate that ambisonic reproduction of soundscapes gives similar results to field experiments, though with more variance explained. They also show that dimensional analysis of soundscape response is robust enough to produce similar results for different locations in different cities. It is suggested that the dimensions that result from this kind of experiment depend somewhat on the rating scales and questions used. Nevertheless, soundscapes and their perceptual dimensions both seem to be reproducible to a meaningful extent.

Citation

Davies, W., & Murphy, J. (2012, August). Reproducibility of soundscape dimensions. Presented at Internoise 2012, New York

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Internoise 2012
• Conference Location: New York
• Start Date: Aug 19, 2012
• End Date: Aug 22, 2012
• Publication Date: Aug 19, 2012
• Deposit Date: Aug 24, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Keywords: soundscape, ambisonic,
• Publisher URL: http://www.i-ince.org/
• Related Public URLs: http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/profiles/davies/
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference