Towards some standardization in assessing soundscape preference

Abstract

Soundscapes involve diverse fields of practice, diverse approaches and diverse disciplinary interests. The field overlaps with the much larger and established field of environmental noise management, and also intersects, to various degrees, with other areas of acoustics such as sound quality, human acoustic comfort in buildings, and music—and also with non-acoustic fields such as wilderness and recreation management, urban and housing design, and landscape planning and management. Working Group 54 of ISO/TC 43/SC 1 has been formed with a remit of standardization for perceptual assessment of human sound preference (in outdoor space) using questionnaires. The Group has only recently begun its work, and with considerable discussion amongst its members of a wide range of issues—not least of which was an adequate definition of soundscapes. This paper makes a range of observations and suggestions on this work including the outcomes of interest, the role of context in assessment, various kinds of sound sources in different places, and lessons from questionnaire measurement of noise annoyance. It represents a personal view, though informed by a range of opinions from the Working Group meeting and from relevant literature.