Investigations on the Influence of Auditory Perception on Urban Space Design Through Virtual Acoustics

Abstract

The study investigates the influence of different façade materials on listeners' space wideness perception on the basis of auditory stimuli, aiming at improving the awareness of how different façade designs can influence the outdoor environment under multiple aspects. The investigation has been conducted through a listening test with a 4-level factorial design in which participants had to rank different sound stimuli with respect to the perceived wideness of the space in which they were produced. The stimuli were obtained through auralisation of an impulsive sound in virtual scenarios in which different scattering and absorption coefficients of the building façades and different source and receiver positions were tested. Results showed that the absorption coefficient of the façades and sound source position significantly affect the perceived wideness of spaces while scattering coefficient and receiver position do not. Moreover, no correlation was found between the above-mentioned factors, and music experience of participants proved not to be an influential factor as well.