Relationship between impressions of soundscapes of parks and acceptable sound levels for road traffic

摘要

In this study, the acceptable sound levels for road traffic in urban parks and squares were investigated in terms of impressions. First, participants were asked to indicate their impressions of soundscapes in six locations as perceived from videos. By means of an adjustment method, the participants were requested to assess acceptable sound levels for those locations. The green view rates at those locations were calculated. The results show that there was a tendency for the signal-to-noise (SN) ratio of the acceptable sound level (acceptable sound level as S, and L_(Aeq) of the parks as N) to be higher if the environmental sound level of the location was low; however, there were strong individual differences in acceptable levels. Our findings suggest that the intrusion of road traffic noise may be tolerable if environmental noise level is sufficiently low. In addition, a tendency for the SN ratio of the acceptance level to be lower if the green view rate was higher was identified. However, no relationship between the perceived soundscape qualities of the study locations and acceptable levels for traffic noise was identified.