Title: Experimental study on sound preferences for dynamic waterscapes

Author(s): WANG Yaping; LIU Qi; XU Xiaolei; WANG Yu

Affiliation(s): School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shandong Jianzhu University

Abstract: In this study, the soundscape data on the dynamic waterscapes from different geographical environments were first collected. Next, the Likert 5-point scale and laboratory experiments were adopted to study the relationships between the waterscape sound preferences and physical characteristics, namely the visual preference of waterscape, environment, and participants. It was found that under single-sound listening, the sound preference had significant negative correlation with A-weighted SPL of waterscape sound (r_p=-0.981, p<0.01) and had significant positive correlation with instantaneous variability (r_p=0.720, p<0.05). Moreover, the spectral centroid also had significant negative correlation with the sound preference (r_p=-0.867, p<0.01), when it had significant correlation with A-weighted SPL and instantaneous variability. Waterscape and environmental videos without sound were projected and their visual preferences were evaluated. Waterscape sound preferences were evaluated simultaneously with its videos. It was found that waterscapes and environments with higher visual preference could evidently improve the sound preference for waterscape flowing at high flow velocity, whereas those with lower visual preference could reduce the sound preference for waterscape flowing at low flow velocity. Male and female subjects had significant differences in the evaluation, and sound preferences for Heihu Spring made by local students were higher than that made by non-local students. Therefore, waterscape sound preference was influenced by physical indices, visual factors, and participants.