Effects of combinations of water sounds and visual elements on the traffic noise mitigation in urban green parks

During the last decade several studies have demonstrated the potential role that urban green parks may have on restoration and well-being for people who live in dense urban environments. On the other hand measurement campaigns and survey in different urban parks have also showed how their soundscape may be significantly affected by road traffic noise, or other surrounding noise sources. While classical noise mitigation interventions with screens or noise barriers are often not compatible with urban contexts, especially in case of strong landscape values, the introduction of natural sounds has been found to have a general positive effect in enhancing the overall quality of acoustic environments. This study presents the results of a laboratory test in Immersive Virtual Reality, where different solutions with water's sounds, used for the informational masking of road traffic noise, and some associated visual objects were combined in virtual scenes. The test was administrated to a sample of participants in order to assess the effects on soundscape quality and its attributes.