Effects of an Absorbent Street Furniture and Fountain on Soundscape Quality in a Stockholm Pocket Park

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of a mock-up version of an absorbent street furniture and a fountain on soundscape quality in a pocket park in Stockholm. Binaural recordings were conducted at two distances from the main road (on the sidewalk and in the park). The recordings were conducted with and without the mock-up, and with the local fountain either turned on or off. Thirty-two students participated in a listening experiment (16 women; M = 26.6 yr., SD = 5.6). The participants assessed the eight experimental sounds, in context of 12 fill sounds, on how pleasant and eventful they were. ANOVA showed that the mock-up and the distance to the road had positive effects on Pleasantness scores. The fountain contributed to pleasantness in absence of the mock-up. The distance to the road contributed to lower Eventfulness scores. The fountain reduced the eventfulness, only in the park. Taken together, the results suggest that the mock-up and fountain masked the sounds of road traffic. When the mock-up was present, its effect dominated over the fountain. These results are in line with previous case studies conducted in Stockholm.