Establishing key dimensions for reifying soundfields and soundscapes from auditory professionals.

This paper presents a unique insight into the way acousticians, computing specialists and sound designers describe the dimensions of sound they use. Seventy-five audio professionals completed a detailed questionnaire created to elicit common definitions of the words noise and soundscape, and to establish common methods of reifying sound, architectural acoustics and hearing abilities. The responses in have contributed to a better understanding of sound from a practitioner’s perspective, the impact of the physical environment on sound perception and also effects experienced by those with hearing difficulties. We report a method of data analysis and that is appropriate for use by diverse groups of professionals engaged in the design and evaluation of auditory displays for shared environments. This research suggests that a far simpler approach to the measurement and evaluation of sounds and soundscapes is practiced than might be assumed from studying the exhaustive lists of measures and methods detailed in current textbooks and published standards.

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