Application of novel techniques for the investigation of human relationships with soundscapes

This paper outlines the methodology and preliminary results obtained from the Sound Around You projects dataset. This large scale public participation soundscape research project has gathered soundscape recordings from 200 respondents along with subjective responses and opinions for each. The objective metrics extracted from each recording describe the soundscape using a musical analysis model, with metrics such as tonality, rhythm and structure. The subjective responses predominantly use nine point semantic differential scales with three questions asking for a combination of single word and open ended textual responses. Textual source responses were divided into: human, natural and artificial categories for analysis. These two respective datasets were run through a process of statistical analysis in an attempt to discover any significant correlations between the objective characteristics and subjective responses to these soundscapes. A further stage of principal component analysis aims to uncover a set of uncorrelated components for variability and manipulation in the simulation of soundscapes for subjective testing in an immersive environment. This process should serve to validate the projects existing dataset as well as afford new insight into the effects that these influential metrics have on a person‟s subjective response to the sounds around them. Preliminary results from the first stage of testing will be discussed along with projections for future uses for this technique and system, including the use of modern smartphones in soundscape analysis.