Conference_programme: 20.4 - Soundscape in Standarization

Lecture: Expanding soundscape standards through heritage considerations – a case study

Author(s): Jordan Pamela

Summary:
It is imperative to consider all types of soundscape scenarios when developing standards for practice. From dense urban developments to more isolated rural locales, soundscape assessment tools, methods, and analysis must also accommodate multiple user groups and their individual values in varying sonic environments. Soundscape applications are quickly expanding beyond preference-based noise assessments. And indeed, research is slowly addressing this shift: accepted soundscape descriptors are expanding beyond enjoyment-based terms such as pleasantness or restorativeness towards concepts of appropriateness, safety, and relevance. \n\nHistoric places are a prime example of the challenges currently facing the standardization of soundscape investigations. Here, many user groups comingle, from visitors to current residents to site caretakers. Each group carries its own expectations and perceptions of the location's genus loci, various memories or knowledge of past conditions, and varying motivations for visiting. The challenge is incorporating such disparate data into one soundscape assessment.\n\nThis paper will draw from ongoing soundscape investigations at the Berlin Wall Memorial in Berlin, Germany to address the requirements, potentials, and challenges of soundscape assessment in historic places specifically, but with implications for all sonic environments. Methodologies of data collection will be discussed in detail, including psychoacoustic measurements from binaural recordings, soundwalks with various user groups, and customized surveys utilizing a variety of descriptors in sematic differential scales and free-form responses. The strategy for selecting recording points will also be addressed. The collected data enables conditions mapping across the site as well as comparative cluster and statistical analyses of participants’ responses. Results from recent soundwalks will be shared, highlighting differences between user groups according to factors such as profession, age, and previous relationship to the memorial. A discussion on implications for greater soundscape practice will highlight new and established soundscape descriptors that were particularly suitable or confusing in an historic context.

Corresponding author

Name: Ms Pamela Jordan

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Country: Netherlands