Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality
Introducing pleasant natural sounds to mask urban noises is an important soundscape design strategy to improve acoustic comfort. This study investigates the effects of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) between natural sounds (signal) and the target noises (noise) and their temporal characteristics on the...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154601 |
| _version_ | 1826121820267347968 |
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| author | Hong, Joo Young Ong, Zhen-Ting Lam, Bhan Ooi, Kenneth Gan, Woon-Seng Kang, Jian Feng, Jing Tan, Sze-Tiong |
| author2 | School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
| author_facet | School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Hong, Joo Young Ong, Zhen-Ting Lam, Bhan Ooi, Kenneth Gan, Woon-Seng Kang, Jian Feng, Jing Tan, Sze-Tiong |
| author_sort | Hong, Joo Young |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Introducing pleasant natural sounds to mask urban noises is an important soundscape design strategy to improve acoustic comfort. This study investigates the effects of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) between natural sounds (signal) and the target noises (noise) and their temporal characteristics on the perceived loudness of noise (PLN) and overall soundscape quality (OSQ) through a laboratory experiment. Two types of urban noise sources (hydraulic breaker and traffic noises) were set to A-weighted equivalent sound pressure levels (SPL) of 55, 65, and 75 dB and then augmented with two types of natural sounds (birdsong and stream), across a range of SNRs. Each acoustic stimulus was a combination of noise and natural sound at SNRs from -6 to 6 dB. Averaged across all cases, the subjective assessment of PLN showed that augmenting urban noise separately with the two natural sounds reduced the PLN by 17.9%, with no significant differences found between the birdsong and stream sounds. Adding natural sounds increased the OSQ by on average 18.3% across the cases, but their effects gradually decreased as the noise level increased. The OSQ of the birdsong and stream sounds were similar for traffic noise, whereas the stream sound was rated higher than the birdsong for the breaker noise. The results suggest that increasing the dissimilarity in temporal structure between the target noise and natural sounds could enhance the soundscape quality. Appropriate SNRs were explored considering both PLN and OSQ. The results showed that the SNR of -6 dB was desirable when the A-weighted SPL of the noise rose to 75 dB. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:38:26Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/154601 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:38:26Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1546012021-12-29T02:46:44Z Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality Hong, Joo Young Ong, Zhen-Ting Lam, Bhan Ooi, Kenneth Gan, Woon-Seng Kang, Jian Feng, Jing Tan, Sze-Tiong School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering Acoustic Environment Auditory Masking Introducing pleasant natural sounds to mask urban noises is an important soundscape design strategy to improve acoustic comfort. This study investigates the effects of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) between natural sounds (signal) and the target noises (noise) and their temporal characteristics on the perceived loudness of noise (PLN) and overall soundscape quality (OSQ) through a laboratory experiment. Two types of urban noise sources (hydraulic breaker and traffic noises) were set to A-weighted equivalent sound pressure levels (SPL) of 55, 65, and 75 dB and then augmented with two types of natural sounds (birdsong and stream), across a range of SNRs. Each acoustic stimulus was a combination of noise and natural sound at SNRs from -6 to 6 dB. Averaged across all cases, the subjective assessment of PLN showed that augmenting urban noise separately with the two natural sounds reduced the PLN by 17.9%, with no significant differences found between the birdsong and stream sounds. Adding natural sounds increased the OSQ by on average 18.3% across the cases, but their effects gradually decreased as the noise level increased. The OSQ of the birdsong and stream sounds were similar for traffic noise, whereas the stream sound was rated higher than the birdsong for the breaker noise. The results suggest that increasing the dissimilarity in temporal structure between the target noise and natural sounds could enhance the soundscape quality. Appropriate SNRs were explored considering both PLN and OSQ. The results showed that the SNR of -6 dB was desirable when the A-weighted SPL of the noise rose to 75 dB. Ministry of National Development (MND) National Research Foundation (NRF) This research is supported by the Singapore Ministry of National Development and the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office under the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2 NIC) Research Programme (L2 NIC Award No. L2NICCFP2-2015-5). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of the Singapore Ministry of National Development and National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore.” The first author is currently supported by the 2017 Lee Kuan Yew Postdoctoral Fellowship (Grant No.: 50025000). 2021-12-29T02:46:44Z 2021-12-29T02:46:44Z 2020 Journal Article Hong, J. Y., Ong, Z., Lam, B., Ooi, K., Gan, W., Kang, J., Feng, J. & Tan, S. (2020). Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality. Science of the Total Environment, 711, 134571-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134571 0048-9697 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154601 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134571 32000311 2-s2.0-85076606333 711 134571 en L2NICCFP2-2015-5 50025000 Science of the Total Environment © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
| spellingShingle | Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering Acoustic Environment Auditory Masking Hong, Joo Young Ong, Zhen-Ting Lam, Bhan Ooi, Kenneth Gan, Woon-Seng Kang, Jian Feng, Jing Tan, Sze-Tiong Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality |
| title | Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality |
| title_full | Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality |
| title_fullStr | Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality |
| title_short | Effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality |
| title_sort | effects of adding natural sounds to urban noises on the perceived loudness of noise and soundscape quality |
| topic | Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering Acoustic Environment Auditory Masking |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/154601 |
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